


The Mask That They Wore

by mischievousandplayfulV



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Crushes, F/F, Fluff, Gay, Getting Together, Happy Ending, M/M, Masquerade, Mutual Pining, Post-Squip, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-08-08 06:39:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16424342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mischievousandplayfulV/pseuds/mischievousandplayfulV
Summary: There's a halloween party right around the corner, masquerade themed thanks to Christine. Jeremy wants to go, but Michael decided against it after last year. Jeremy meets a stranger at the party that makes him question his love life. Will Jeremy come to his senses and go for Michael or will the stranger interfere? It will take a long time and some help from his friends to decide.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Second work in this fandom.  
> Will edit as the story progresses.

It had been sometime since the Squip incident and the boys have only gotten closer as friends. After Jeremy was able to leave the hospital, things were a bit awkward between the two. That's what you would expect when you haven't spent time together thanks to Keanu Reeves. Even if each chip was mostly destroyed thanks to Michael and his research, the voices were still there. Jeremy was still getting used to the voices in his head that seemed to dull more each day, unless it was a really bad day, where he would be tired or stressed by a situation and the squip would try to use it against him. Michael would supply him with Mountain Dew Red though, what did he do to deserve a guy like him anyways. After breaking the connection, the whole group just kind of seemed to get along, probably since the ones that had it before were more true to themselves and others had spent enough time with said kids.

About a year had passed and the Halloween party was right along the corner. It was at Jake’s house again. He just doesn't seem to understand that horrible things always happen to the house that has the party , I guess that it's just a curse for being “cool” you know. After some arrangement, a.k.a deciding on the theme, Christine decided that it would be an awesome idea to make it masquerade themed, you know, where no one knows anyone, no one invites anyone to go with, you just go and dance with whoever.

***

Jeremy was at Michael’s basement playing Apocalypse of The Damned, their favorite video game. They were just doing small talk and screaming here and there while munching on some snacks and vintage sodas. After a while they decided to take a break and talk about the party that was going to happen later that day.

“Michael are you going to the masquerade later today?”, asked Jeremy with a hopeful smile.

“Jere we already went over this yesterday,”, answered Michael with a fake pissed off look, suddenly turning into a gigantic grin. “I have a contact with this dude, he is going to hook me up with a Gamecube, a GAMECUBE, I just can't miss this shot, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“I know, but it's also our first Halloween party with the whole gang as friends.”

“I doubt that it's going to be the last Jeremy, it's probably going to become a tradition.”, he stated in a matter of fact voice. “Isn't the plan anyway to just not go with anyone.”

“Yeah, I was going to ask Christine since she had to take a rain check for our last date, but decided against it.”, to be entirely truthful, their dates become more like friendly outgoings, not that he would tell Michael though.

Jeremy missed the look in Michael’s eyes when the supposed date was announced, he covered it fast though. They aren't official yet, but they did go on dates every so often, they were just taking it slow if you asked them. Or at least that was what Michael thought.

“Don't worry, she probably won't be hard to miss. We both know how she is when it comes to performing a roll or dressing up. She would be crazy if she didn't go out with you. You’re a great person.” He had to stop before he went into a full on monologue which he tended to do when talking about his best friend.

“Thanks dude.”

***

Jeremy wasn't going to lie, he was disappointed that Michael wasn't going to go. He had spent every second with Michael to make up for ignoring him and the situation that happened in the bathroom. He probably had apologized more than a thousand times, but what he did to Michael was unforgivable, which leaves him dumbfounded that he did it without a second thought.

“It wasn't you Jere, I know that now.” or “Don't beat yourself about it, it's in the past.”, Michael said along with a hug or an invitation to spend time together.

In other matters, he had to figure out a way to ask Christine to hang out with him. To be absolutely truthful, his crush on Christine wasn't as strong as it was in the last few years, he wasn't sure why though. Maybe it's because they decided to go on a date do to everything that had happened and they actually did not have much in common. He was still trying though, a crush like that can't just disappear. It also wasn't because of Michael, or his smile, or his caring nature, or that he was kind of hot in his own way, no homo though. Christine had mentioned that he tended to include him in like every conversation, he also did occupy most of his thoughts too. There was no possibility that he would have romantic feelings for him anyway, even if he had come to the realization that he was bisexual, if he had he should have already acknowledge it in between the 12 years of friendship that they had, thirteen now. He just blamed it on him saving his ass last year. He actually should get ready right now.

***

A few days ago he had gotten a suit courtesy of his father’s old tailor friend, considering that it was a suit and tie event. Why so formal? He had no idea taking into account that they were going to get drunk as fuck anyway, probably losing pieces of their clothes here and there. The mask was kind of the tricky part to be truthful, he had to go to different shops to try to find one that suited him nicely. He was kind of embarrassed since most of the stores that sold the masks also sell more suggestive stuff. Curse his pale complexion that made his blush more evident than it should.

He ended up getting help from Michael and the ever trusting internet, it didn't really matter that he would know how it would look like if he wasn't even going to be there. It may have gone faster if they did not get distracted with everything, Michael was a sucker for the old monster type costumes, to be expected though. It was hard to choose considering that most of them had weird colors that brought too much attention to his face.

“Michael we should probably just pick whichever.”, Jeremy said tiredly, they had spent all day at this.

“No no, you have to get one that matches your clothes and it should also grab Christine's attention.”, Michael said wiggling his eyebrows as he headed to a glass case with one that seemed to call him. “Hey! What do you think of this one.”

“I'm not sure let me try it.”, he started to look at himself in the mirror and he put it on, spinning around to show Michael.

He was just standing there for whoever knows how long staring at Jeremy, this one was perfect. It was a deep black contrasting perfectly with Jeremy’s skin complexion. It had gold decorations around the eyes that brought attention to his beautiful baby blue ocean eyes. It cover half of the upper section of his face, one of the eyes wasn't completely encased either.

“Dude does it look good?”, Jeremy said with an amused smirk.

Michael finally snapped from his trance and started blushing heavily. “Y-yeah...It looks really good, I bet you will get all the ladies.”

“It even has musical notes, Christine will love the design.”

“She totally will, come on let's pay for it.”

***

Jeremy was contemplating if he should call Michael to help him get ready, but Michael was probably going to meet the guy with the cube so he decided against it. He took a shower to get rid of any weird feelings and just to feel clean. After he put his suit on with a goldish tie to match his mask. He took his phone and mask and headed out, at least that was the plan until his dad appeared out of nowhere and started taking pictures.

“Dad whyyy?”, whined Jeremy as he started blushing.

“My boy, already a man you look just as handsome as I did at your age.”, Mr. Heere said with pride in his voice as he kept taking pictures. “Are you going with Michael or a fair lady?”

Jeremy snickered at his father’s antics, but then he slumped a bit. “Michael’s not coming to the party, but I'm hoping to get Christine to hang out with me.”

Mr. Heere did a 360 after the squip incident, he started caring more for his son and the situations that he passed through, even gaining enough trust to learn about his son’s gigantic crush on Christine Canigula. He even started wearing pants, well, at least most of the time.

“I have to leave dad bye!”, Jeremy screamed back at his dad, him waving at him as he got inside the car.

***

Michael felt kinda bad that he lied to Jeremy about the whole Gamecube meeting, well he did have that contact, just not on that day. The reason why he had lied though was because he was slightly scared. Last time he was in a party he had a mental breakdown, panic attack if you will because he was left alone by his best and only friend of twelve years. He did have more friends now, but none of them could take the place of his bro. Curse his one sided crush of way too many years.

He was originally planning to go, he even bought the suit and everything. His mom helped him choose one appropriate enough for that evening. The thing was that everytime that he stared at the stuff, he felt really anxious, getting hit in the head with memories. He had already forgiven Jeremy, he may have had a little influence with the squip, but who could blame him, he was the opposite of cool. Not a time to get into that though.

He picked the mask that he had chosen when searching for Jeremy’s own. How did he do it without the other knowing? Quite simple really, Jeremy got distracted by some toys in a store farther ahead, he just told him to go without him and he would search for any possible masks. He found one that called his attention, the store clerk told him that it was steampunk inspired, as in where you make it vintage, with gears and dirty colors. It was known that he had a love for anything old, specially from the 90s and 80s, he even drank discontinued sodas from that era. Anyways, he decided that he was going to buy that one, hiding it inside another one of the bags he had and headed over to the store where Jeremy recided.

The mask was interesting, it was a dirty gold, almost black, metallic looking. It had gears stuck, along with some cables. The eyes had a thin layer of gold, kinda like a chain link, covering them a bit. It also held some foreign objects here and there, like the two puzzle pieces right in his forehead, he liked its uniqueness though.

After contemplating for a bit, he decided to just take a bath and to go from there. Once he was out he checked the time, if he left in the next ten minutes or so he should be able to reach the party in time. It would be fun, he told himself, Jeremy would be happy to see you, he repeated, you have new friends, nothing bad will go wrong. One of the other reasons that he was deciding not to was because of Christine, its really hard to seem supportive when you want Jeremy’s love and attention for yourself. It was selfish he knew, but he loved him damn it. He was pretty much the reason of how he found out that he was gay in the first place. How could you not love that boy, he was cute, caring, had a great sense of humor, he was interesting. He had the most beautiful eyes in which you could lose yourself in, and his hair, oh how he loved playing with it.

“Ok you know what, I'm going to go, I have nothing better to do and should at least try to hang out with the others.”, he murmured to himself. “If Jeremy’s there, that’s enough for me.”

He started getting ready, the suit that he picked out was a normal tuxedo really, he didn't want to bring to much attention to himself. The vest inside matched the mask since it was black with some gold highlights here and there. There was one problem though, his glasses, he was practically blind without them, he does have some contacts in his drawer that he could use. No one knows that he was them, he doesn't like putting them on since they are quite uncomfortable without eye drops, which he hates. Eyes shouldn't be touched, but one night would be fine he guessed. After everything he left in his P.T. Cruiser.

***

The party went as you would expect, only a few of them arrived first, then the whole school plus unknown others. The house had some simple decorations, some spider webs here and there. The table had snacks, halloween themed, like chewy eyeballs, fingers and solo cups, you know, the usual. The hype was just beginning, music playing hard and everyone dancing with everyone, no one too drunk to be doing anything weird yet. They even hired a DJ, in other words, just a college kid playing some playlist that he made or got from the internet, anything to make a few bucks really.

Jeremy arrived when there was only a few first, he was slightly anxious, but felt weirdly confident thanks to the mask, probably because it hid part of his face. Jake was the one that opened the door, considering that it is his house. He sported a mostly black mask with red markings in his left. It was quite simple, but it fit him almost perfectly.

“Hey dude!”, said Jake. “I almost didn't recognize you, that’s an awesome mask.”

“Thanks man. Who has arrived?”, asked Jeremy.

“Pretty much all the squad, I don't see Michael with you though.”

Jeremy lowered his head a bit. “He isn't coming, I tried, believe me.”

“Oh, ok, doesn't matter, I kinda wanted the full gang, but I guess if he's not feeling it I won't force him. Come in, the girls are waiting for you.”

“Yeah, ok, thanks.”

Jeremy entered through the doors and stumbled into the living room of the house. Since the old house went into flames, Jake moved into a new one. The party was too lit, literally, wow he went there, Michael would be proud of that joke. Jeremy pushed that thought away as he saw some of the girls sitting on the couch and others in the armrest. As he got closer, the conversation that they seem to be having came to a halt.

“Jeremy is that you?”, asked the one with a mask that seemed to represent a crown, it was totally Chloe.

“Y-yeah. Was it that obvious?”, he said stuttering a bit, then letting out a chuckle.

“I didn’t know that it was you Jere, if it makes you feel better.”, Brooke said from the armrest. She had a beautiful purple mask that appeared to have makeup on. The masks may be able to hide one’s face, but not one’s voice.

“Thanks Brooke. So... what are you girls doing?”

The girl with a big flower stuck to her mask, probably Christine, said, “We were just talking, waiting for the others.”

“Yeah, some gossip here and there, you know, girl talk.”, Jenna said, she had a nice pink and purple mask.

The girls giggled, Jeremy was a bit curious about the secrecy, but who was he to butt into a conversation. He asked the girls if any wanted a drink, since he was gonna get a snack. Only Brooke and Jenna said yes. As he went towards the kitchen, he crashed into another party goer.

“Watch it tall...JEREMY!”, the guy that was probably Rich yelled. He had a cheap white mask with blood handprints. Yep, totally Rich.

“Am I really that obvious?”, he said laughing as Rich hugged him. They became close because of all the SQUIP problematic.

“Totally, you may hide part of your face, but you’re still you.”

“I guess...do you want to help me get the drinks for the girls?”, Jeremy asked.

“Sure, such a gentleman.”

They got the stuff and went back to the living room. The house was slowly filling up, but the couches were already called dibs by the gang so no one really got close. Jeremy handed the respected drinks as he sat down on the floor next to Rich, who was currently sitting on Jake. They started dating a few weeks after Rich got out of the hospital, they were really cute and happy together, Jeremy wished he could be like them, not with Michael though, obviously.

“Jeremy, I’ve been meaning to ask.”, said Christine. “Where’s Michael? You guys are practically inseparable.” Ever since Jeremy decided that he was never going to leave Michael again, they were pretty much attached to the hip now. It was to be expected that everyone, well, expected Michael to come with him.

“He….didn’t want to come. He had a hook up with this dude that was gonna sell him a Gamecube. To be truthful, I just think that he isn’t comfortable with parties. It’s probably related to the halloween accident, he says he’s fine, but I don’t believe it.”

“Oh...”, said Brooke. “I’m sorry, I bet he will get better, he just needs time.” Everyone agreed with her. They then decided to play a little drinking game to get rid of the awkward situation they were in.


	2. Second Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael decides to give this party a shot. Plan changes when a drunk Jeremy needs to be taken back home. How will Michael survive with a Jeremy that just talks non-stop about a stranger that he met at the party?

Michael was hanging out in his car outside the Dillinger household, debating really hard about if he should get out or just go back home. The party was at full swing, music and lights blasting through the doors. Said factors didn’t really help with the anxiety forming in his body, but a promise was a promise, even if it was towards himself. He got out of his P.T. Cruiser and checked himself on the window, he was at least going to try to look presentable.

He walked towards the doors of the house, which were open by the way, not a good thing to do at a party since anyone could get in, but since it was a Jake party, everyone was kind of invited. As he stepped inside, the smell of booze and teenager sweat hit his nose, a bit overwhelming. He kept going through the crowd, some eyes fell on him as he walked by, but he ignored them. There were people singing, others making out in corners of the room, some were chatting while eating or drinking.

When he thought that he spotted the gang, a girl bumped into him, probably by mistake though, until she started talking to him.

“Hey handsome, my name is Nicole.”, the stranger apparently named Nicole slurred, had one to many drinks probably.

“H...hey.”, he said back. Why was a pretty girl talking to him?

“What’s a guy like you doing here?”, she was Asian, sporting short black hair and she had slightly plump arms.

“Mmm...”, he didn't know how to address this problem, so he said the first thing that came to mind. “not interested?” It came out more like a question.

“Oh c'mon, I know you are. ”

“Well you're wrong.”, he said as she got closer to him and took hold of his chin.

“Well I can change that if you give me a shot.”, he moved away after she said that laughing nervously.

“You can't because I'm not straight, as in the gayest of the gay.”, hopefully that explained it fairly well.

“Ughh, why are cute ones always gay.”, she said as she left him. That was a rollercoaster of emotions.

He kept walking, acting like that never happened, the mask probably hid more than he thought. He saw what looked like a Rich doing a handstand over the couch. Yep, totally Rich considering what looked like Jake was laughing while trying to help him. He walked towards them, but he noticed that the others weren't with them, so he kept note of them and kept walking.

He found out by accident that Chloe and Brooke were making out when he walked on them as he tried to look for Jeremy outside. They didn't notice him since they were busy, so he just ran away. He saw Jenna dancing like crazy on the ‘dance floor’, but still no Jeremy to be seen. He was growing paranoid thinking that maybe Jeremy didn't come and he just went for nothing. He heard Christine singing at the karaoke spot, maybe Jere was going to be there since he wanted to be with her. Christine was singing something, he wasn't really sure where it was from, but he had heard it.

As he got closer, he noticed that she was singing the parts of every character very enthusiastically. Who knew she could rap like that? Well, I guess if you are a super Hamilton fan you gain that skill. According to the screen she was singing The Schuyler Sisters, but there was no Jeremy. He sighed in disappointment as he kept looking, he went to get a snack or maybe a drink. Before he was able to reach the kitchen, a weird sound came from what he suspected was the bathroom. Said bathroom kind of triggered some horrible memories, but if his gut was correct, that sound belonged to Jeremy, he went towards the door.

***

Jeremy was really starting to regret accepting the drinking challenge that everyone decided to play. He has never been one to drink much, but I guess his competitive side came out a bit. Right now he was slouching against the toilet in Jake's bathroom, feeling like he was going to die. Why would he put himself through this torture if he knew that he couldn't hold his booze as well as the others? He felt his insides empty as he laid on the floor contemplating death, he had to take off his mask since he started sweating so much. As he was about to go back to the toilet he heard someone knock against the door.

“Jeremy?”, a voice said from the other side. He was probably too drunk since he felt a familiarity to it, but couldn't pinpoint where he had heard it exactly.

“Yeah?”, he said back, not really knowing why.

“Can I come in?”, the voice said, with a hint of worry.

“I must tell you, whoever you are, that it is not a pretty sight.”, Jeremy said trying to clean himself up. He doesn't know what gave him the confidence to let this stranger in, but it was better than suffering alone.

A laugh came from the other side, which made Jeremy's heart flutter. Why? He doesn't actually know. The door swung open and a beautiful stranger came through.

“You made it sound way worse than it actually was Jere.”, Michael said as he kneeled in front of his friend. He probably was really drunk considering that he didn't know it was Michael calling his name.

“I’m sorry, but...who are you?”, Jeremy said as a pretty stranger helped him.

Michael was surprised at the question that came out of his friend? Was the mask really that good at hiding his face or was Jeremy just too drunk? “Jere, it's me Michael, you know, your best friend since like diapers.”

“No no,”, Jeremy said back shaking his head. “Michael didn't come to the party, also he wears glasses and you don't.”

“Jeremy it is me, I decided to come anyway to hangout with you.”, there was no way that his glasses would make such a difference to not be recognizable.

“You are lying to meeee.”, Jeremy said back, he was a little flushed and felt some sickness coming back to him, he went back to the toilet.

Michael saw that there was pretty much no way to convince Jeremy that he was actually Michael so he just played along to help him out. He patted his back, keeping a mental note to get some water and Advil for his friend next morning, maybe some pizza afterwards. He would probably have a lot of explaining to do tomorrow anyway. He decided to just take Jeremy to his house to stay considering he doesn't know how Mr. Heere would react if he brought his son as drunk as he was right now. He took Jeremy's phone and texted Mr. Heere about staying over at his house, he, of course, said yes immediately, considering that his house was like Jere's second home.

He waited a while as Jeremy finished his ‘business’ and took him out of the bathroom along with the mask on the floor. He looked way better now than before, he was also starting to feel quite uncomfortable as his friend just kept staring at him.

“You know stranger, you look really pretty.”, Jeremy said as he touched his cheek.

“Ha ha sure.”, Michael started to blush as Jere said that.

“You are so soft too, and your eyes are such a nice shade of brown, like chocolate.”, Jeremy was now just rambling.

This boy was going to be the death of him, he just knows. Before Jeremy could keep going with this praising, Michael started to tell him about this random documentary that he was watching before the party. He knew that his talking would distract the boy in his arms as he took him to his car.

“You have such a nice buttery voice, and you know a lot.”, Michael just laughed at his friends antics as he sat him in his car. “Where are you taking me by the way?”

“We are going to my….ichael’s house.”, he said coughing at the almost mess up that he did.

“Oh..ok. Thanks stranger.”

As he started the car, Jeremy fell asleep in like two seconds. He was probably very tired, he texted the rest of the gang that he had picked up Jeremy early since he was not feeling well. In other words, he was passed out drunk. He drove silently to his house, with a low Bob Marley song in the background. He arrived after a few minutes and took Jeremy out of the car and into his house, in a bride position pretty much. He went to his room and placed Jeremy on his bed. He took of his suit and left him with the under shirt that he had, he took of his shoes and pants, blushing a bit as he did. He placed the mask and the clothes on his desk and took care of his own clothes.

Michael took of his contacts carefully in the bathroom, he placed them in their respective case after cleaning both of them. He then proceeded to putting eye drops in his eyes since they were slightly irritated. He hates this, but it was a thing that he had to do. He put on his glasses again and brushed his teeth. After finishing with his nightly routine, he went back to his room and walked up to his bed, where Jeremy was laying at the moment. He was debating if he should join in on his bed or if he should just lay in the floor, it was too late for him to find the sleeping bag that they sometimes used and he didn't want to leave Jeremy alone in case he woke up disoriented. At the end Michael decided to just sleep on the floor, they had shared beds before, but he didn't want to confuse Jeremy more than he probably already would be when he woke up.

Michael went to his closet where he kept some extra blankets and a pillow, for times just like this and he organized them on the floor. He put his glasses next to him so that he could remember tomorrow.

“Night Jer-bear.”, he said towards his sleeping friend and fell asleep.

***

The next morning was not really eventful, Michael woke up early, put on his glasses to get a glass of water and an Advil from the kitchen. He walked back to his room and he placed them in the night stand next to Jeremy. He then proceeded to get a fresh pair of boxers and pants, he took them to the bathroom where he took a bath while listening to music, singing along.

Jeremy started to stir as he sat up in the bed.

‘Where am I?’, Jeremy thought as he felt a brain splitting headache forming. After a few minutes of observing his surroundings, it dawn on him that this was Michael’s room. The singing coming from the bathroom should have been a obvious point anyway. He took a sip from the water and swallowed the pill with it. What did he do to deserve someone like Michael who would take care of him always? Jeremy heard the shower turn off and after awhile a shirtless Michael appeared.

“Oh! Jere you’re awake, how are you feeling?”, Michael asked while drying his hair.

Jeremy was taken back by the boy walking towards him. He probably shouldn’t have this type of thoughts anyway. “Quite better after the water, could you keep it down though, I have a bit of a headache.”

“Yeah, sorry.”, Michael then put on a pac-man shirt.

“Hey Micah. Do you know what I’m doing here?”, confusion clearly in the boy’s face.

“Well, what do you remember?”, he wanted to see if he remembered the ‘stranger’ from yesterday night.

“Actually, now that you mention it, I remember some parts of last night.”, Jeremy could recall the game that the group were playing, how he ended up chugging down more than one bottle of the mysterious liquid that Chloe brought that night. “We decided to a drinking game a little after I arrived, things led to other things and I had to run to the bathroom.”

“You’ve never been able to hold your booze my bro.”, Michael said in a teasing manner.

“Yeah, but everything after that was kind of a blur.”

“You were pretty wasted last night if i do say so myself.”

Jeremy laughed at that, then he remembered something. “Actually, now that I think about it, I do remember someone else in the bathroom with me.”

“Who was this mystery someone?”, would Jeremy recognize that it was him? He started to plan an explanation about why he had arrived to the party, but Jeremy interrupted his thinking.

“I don't really remember him well Micah, but I do remember that he had brown eyes that made you feel at home.”, Jeremy started blushing while he recalled the strange.

“Wait...what.”, why was he praising him, this wasn't really supposed to go this way.

“Yeah, he had this voice that was like a lullaby and he was just really good looking.”

How was he supposed to tell his friend that the stranger had been himself, as in Michael if he sounded like he has a crush on him? Do you imagine how awkward it would be? ‘Hey that guy that you are praising, yep, it was me, your best friend since we were like 4. Oh you feel uncomfortable about it? Yeah sorry, I won't talk to you ever again.’ Maybe he was overreacting, but he just got his friend back, he didn't want to lose him.

“I probably sound like a love sick puppy,”, Jeremy said laughing. “we barely even talked, he just helped me through the sickness and then i don't really remember what happened. I don't really know why i feel like this, i don't even remember how he looked like, just how i felt at the moment.”

Jeremy had come out as bi a few months ago, but this was like his first guy crush that he actually had talked to Michael about, and it was him. Michael was slowly dying trying to figure out how to tell Jeremy about it. “Sounds like a Prince Charming kind of scenario. Met once, will he come again?”

“To be truthful, I probably made him up or something.”, Jeremy was really self conscious about the way that he was talking about this guy. He had never really had any feelings towards a guy like this since, since like Michael, not that he would ever admit it.

“How did the thing with Christine go by the way?”, Michael had to turn this conversation elsewhere, he couldn't really handle it right now.

“We did hang out with the group and stuff, but we kinda split, you know as in I went to the bathroom, and, well, she went to do whatever.”

“Correct me if I'm wrong, but, you don't sound all lovey dovey about her anymore.”, Michael said with a hopeful hint in his voice.

“I guess she really was like a high school crush, I think I idolized her, plus, we just kind of not fit together I think. I actually talked to her about it at the party before separating, we agreed that we were too different, but at least we are good friends.”, it was the first time that Jeremy admitted the idol part, more to himself at least. It was still kind of unbelievable that he spent so long fantasizing about someone that he barely knew.

“It’s fine buddy. You should rest though, I’ll go order a pizza or something.”

“That sounds good, both the rest and the pizza.”

Michael left the room in a hurry. He was having trouble trying to process everything that just happened. Jeremy sounds like he had a crush on the ‘stranger’, which was himself. How was he supposed to tell him the truth now? He called the nearest pizza place, ordered their usual and sat down in a stool in the kitchen.

‘If Jeremy had a crush on the mystery man, does that mean he had a crush on me?’ Could he use this for his advantage and make his friend like him? No what type of friend would he be if he did that. The best thing to do is to come clean. Just...not right now. Maybe later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Will edit as time progresses.


	3. Help and Gossip

Why did he say that? He was used to musing about crushes or, well, Christine to Michael. Why was the new guy so different? Maybe it was because it was a dude this time, or maybe something else. He wasn't really sure, plus, the stranger wouldn't probably be interested in him anyway.

Jeremy decided to go to the kitchen to accompany Michael while he waited for the food to arrive. He may have stood up a bit too fast because he felt his vision blur, he was fine though. He walked slowly, he wanted to try to scare Michael by appearing behind him. At least, that was the plan until he heard Michael talking to himself.

“Yeah, that's probably for the best anyway.”

“What’s probably for the best?”, Jeremy asked curiously. Jeremy has never heard his best friend screech so loudly.

“Jeremy what are you doing here? How much did you hear?”, Michael was breathing fast.

“I decided to keep you company while you waited and not much. Why? Is this a secret that I need to know about.”, Jeremy asked playfully.

Michael started to blush as he said, “N-no...it's nothing important Jere. Just ignore it.”

Jeremy stood there, staring at Michael's face trying to decipher what was going on with his friend. Thirteen years of friendship can give you skills at figuring out what you friend is thinking. It was surprisingly hard though, so he just gave up and enjoyed the others company as they waited.

Soon enough, the doorbell rang and they opened the door. They paid the guy, which was by know like family since they see him so often. They put on a movie in the living room and ate.

***

When it was nearing 9 pm, Mr. Heere called Jeremy to come home, since he wanted to have a late father-son dinner.

“Hey Micah, can you drive me home?”, Jeremy asked, adding with a child voice. “It's getting dark.”

Michael just chuckled at his friends antics. “I always drive you home, is that even a question.”

“Just in case, you never know.”

They both walked towards the P.T.Cruiser and got in. Michael decided to put some tunes as they drove to the Heere household. Something about what was happening made Jeremy feel a deja vu, probably just because they do this so often though. He started to nod off, until he fell asleep. Michael looked over towards Jeremy, smiling dreamily. He looked beautiful with the street lights reflecting on his face. Soon enough, they reached their stop. Michael shook him a bit so that he would wake up, a sleepy Jeremy said thanks to his best friend as he walked inside his house. He waved to Michael as he closed the door. Soon after, Michael went back home.

***

It was finally Monday again, the most dreaded day of the week, to most students at least. Some kids were still talking about all the things that happened in Jake's party. Jeremy walked through the halls, it was now lunch period so he was heading towards the cafeteria. As he opened the door, he shuffled to the table that now he shared with Michael and his new friends. Jenna, Chloe and Brooke were gossiping about something that Madeline did at the party. Rich and Jake were laughing at this funny video that they were watching.

“Hey guys!”, Jeremy said.

“Hey Jeremy!”, Christine said as she pointed to an open seat next to her. It was nice that even if they weren't together, they could still enjoy some time together. The others nodded at his presence and kept doing there thing.

“Have you seen Michael around here?” As if on cue, a red dancing guy came close.

“Michael!

“Hey Jere, how's it hanging?”, Michael said as he put his headphones down around his neck.

“I’m good, math was shit. That teacher doesn't know how to explain correctly, I'm telling you.”

“Hey Michael,”, Christine said. “how was your weekend?”

Michael answered.”It was awesome, I got a GameCube Chris.”

“You must be so excited.”, people's enthusiasm tended to rub on Christine even if she didn't really know what it was about.

“Yeah...”, Michael was suddenly interrupted by Jenna.

“Hey everybody have you heard about this random stranger that came to Jake's party yesterday?”

Everyone shook their head, Michael, on the other hand, stood their a bit wide eyed, but tried to calm himself down since it was probably not him.

“Yeah, he rejected one of the hottest girls at the party.”, Jenna said as if she had seen it. Now Michael was sweating nervously, but their friends were giving all the attention to Jenna. Jeremy on the other hand was looking at his friend, worry in his eyes.

“Who was she?”, Brooke asked.

“Nicole, you know, the new senior.”

Everyone looked at each other with mutual understanding.

“Do you know who he was?”, Michael asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

“Your gay is showing Michael, no, no one really knows.”, Jenna said teasingly.

Jeremy got close to Michael and whispered, “Do you think that it was the guy that I was telling you about the other day?”

“Probably dude.”

Soon enough the gossip died down and everyone went back to their conversations. Michael was a bit distant, hearing some music. Jeremy also was lost in his thoughts, wondering why Michael acted the way he did and if the stranger was his newfound kinda crush. Soon enough the bell rang and they said their goodbyes as the all left towards their next class.

***

Jeremy was heading towards play rehearsal, he enjoyed it quite a bit last year and he was looking forward to actually participating this time. He was also thinking that he might be able to talk to Christine about the things happening in his life. Some of them concerning Michael, reason why he was going to talk to her instead.

“Hello students! We have a great pleasure to be performing this year Macbeth, from our dear friend Shakespeare.”, Mr. Reyes said in an almost singing voice.

“How will we disrespect Shakespeare this time?”, asked Mark Jackson, a gamer kid. He was kind of a dick if you asked Jeremy though.

“He is dead, get over it. Since we are still fighting for the money that may be transferred to cricket this year, we had to make it more interesting.”

“How so?”, asked Chloe.

“Well Miss Valentine, this time we will incorporate wood nymphs.”

“What are nymphs?”, Rich said.

Christine, having gone through a mythology phase, answered. “Mythological creatures that protect the woods and their animals, they can transform into trees and plants.”

“Thanks Miss Canigula. Now we’re going to take a five minute break so I can have a Hot Pocket.” The class shuffled around to where their friends were and started talking. Jeremy made way to were Christine was sitting.

“Hey Chris, can I ask you something?”

Christine replied, “Sure thing Jere, what’s up?”

“It's about what happened at the party.” Christine looked at him with worry. “Not about the separating thing.”

“Oh ok.”, said Christine with a smile.

“I may have gotten a bit tipsy at the party.”

“You mean completely wasted then.”, she added giggling.

“Mayhaps Chris, ”

“C’mon, keep going, don't leave me hanging.”

“I may have met the stranger that was at the party.”

Christine started smirking as she said, ”Looks like someone has a crush”.  
Jeremy started blushing, but quickly added, “That's kinda part one of the problem.” Jeremy wasn't sure how to express all the feelings that he had, so he decided to just cut to the chase. “Say there's this person you've known since, like, diaper age. You're used to thinking about him in a certain way, from the friendship that we have made. And my feeling changes.”

Christine started thinking, “It's Michael isn't it. How could he be so oblivious at the obvious chemistry between them.”

“So you have a crush on Michael.”, Christine asked.

“Wait what, no….yes… I don't know. Am I that obvious?” Jeremy asked.

“Yes, you pretty much only talk about him, I've seen the way you look at each other, I'm sure we all have seen it.”

“Here comes the problem,”, Jeremy stated. “I don't know If he likes me back and then there's this stranger.”

“Michael has a crush on you as Angelica has a crush on Hamilton, I could bet my whole life on it.”, Christine tended to get intense in this kinds of things. “What does the stranger have to do with anything anyway.”

“Well, like I said, I may have met him. I don't remember much about our encounter, but… I just know that he was very nice to me, and handsome, and sweet, and his eyes were just wow. But how could I like two guys at the same time.”

Now Christine kind of understood the situation. When she was about to answer something, Mr. Reyes came back.

“Well students, time to read the lines of the characters that I shall assign to each one of you.”

“Let's talk about it later.” Christine said.

***

Christine was hanging out with Jenna, they had to work on this history project, so they decided to work in the library to get information. Christine was on deep thought about her conversation with Jeremy, he was totally in love with Michael, that was evident, he was just confused. She decided to get more information about the stranger from Jenna.

“Hey Jenna, can I ask you for some information about someone? Christine asked.

“The sweet Christine wants dirt of someone, and here I thought you were nice.”, Jenna said jokingly.

Christine laughed, “No dirt, just some facts about someone.”

“Anything for my star, what do you need?”

“Thanks, so do you remember the stranger from the party.”

“Yes.”

“I need to know stuff about him, like how he looks or personality.”

“For personal gain or a friend?”

“Curiosity.”

“Well, why don't we ask Nicole herself.” They looked over the other table were the girl was on her phone acting like she was reading a book. They stood up and walked over there.

“Hey Nic, can I ask you something?”, Jenna said.

“Don't call me that and sure, not that I'm doing anything interesting right now.”

“Well my friend here needs to know some stuff about the stranger at the party, since you had a close encounter with him.”

“You should give up already honey, he's gay.”

Christine though, “So...there's a chance.”

“Well, he was pretty nice, looked lost though, as if he was looking for someone.”, Nicole added. “He was dark skinned, had brown eyes I think. I don't remember, I was a bit drunk.”

“Thanks Nicole, see you later.”, Christine said.

“Later.”, Nicole went back to her phone.

“Did you get what you needed?”, Jenna asked.

“Yes, thank you so much, let's go back to the project.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Will edit as time progresses.


	4. Hanging Out

Christine was laying in bed, just thinking. She wanted to help Jeremy, even play matchmaker with him and Michael, but something about this stranger was resulting familiar. She then remembered that Michael picked up Jeremy.

“Maybe he knows something.”, Christine thinks as she picks up her phone to call Michael.

“Yo Chris.”

“Yo Mike!”

“Juliet dear Juliet, what shall you ask of me this time? ”, Michael said with elegance.

“My dearest Romeo, gayest of the land, I wanted to see if your could do me the favor of answering a question of mine.”

“Ask and you shall receive my fair lady.”

They both giggled at their antics. After a second Christine asked Michael, “So… do you remember about the stranger that we were talking about at lunch?”

‘Be careful Mell, Michael thought to himself. ‘try to not give yourself up.’

“Yeah, I remember.”

“I was wondering if you know any information about him.”

Michael laughed nervously. ‘Nice going me.’

“I wasn't at the party so no.”

“It just, since you picked Jeremy up and he was with the stranger I thought that you may have seen him.”

‘Where was she going with this. She may find out the truth if she kept acting. Why isn't everyone as oblivious as Jeremy? I could technically make up a lie about though, everyone was too drunk to remember.’

“I arrived at the party and went inside, I picked Jeremy from the bathroom and took him bridal style to my car.” Michael stated as a matter of fact. “He fell asleep and I texted you guys that I took him home.”

“Oh… well thanks Michael.” Christine said, disappointment in her voice.

“Sorry for not having information Chris.”

“It's ok, well, I'll see you tomorrow.”

“As it should be my dear Juliet.”

They hanged up, Christine decided to see if she could figure out some new stuff from Jeremy, maybe jog his memory a bit. As much as she wanted Michael with Jeremy, she wanted to get this stranger to stop the confusion of Jeremy. She decided to finish up some homework and went to sleep.

***

The next day Christine went straight to Jeremy's locker, she was too excited about this whole ordeal to let it last any longer, she felt like a Sherlock Holmes Cupid hybrid. Jeremy was walking with Michael, but as soon as he saw her, he said goodbye to Jeremy and left.

‘That was weird.‘

“Hey Christine, what's up?”, Jeremy said as he opened his locker.

“I got some information about the stranger yesterday that I would like to share with you.”, Christine said excitedly.

Jeremy started to brush and hushed her. “Not so loud Chris, can we talk about it later.”

“But Jere.”

“Please, I promise that later.”

“Fine.”

***

Michael had gone to his locker after seeing Christine, he was almost sure that she was going to talk to Jeremy about the stranger. After that phone call, he was a bit paranoid. He put his headphones on and walked to class.

‘At least it will blow over soon.’ He knew how gossip worked, it only lasts for a short period of time.

***

After lunch, Jeremy and Christine headed to their shared class, science, which was going to be in the school garden, they had to recollect information regarding animals and their interactions with other species. They were aloud to talk only to their partners, perfect time for Christine to get her information out.

“You see Jeremy,”, said Christine while she looked closer to a bee. “I was able to obtain some information, but I need help from you too.”

“What type of help?” Jeremy asked as he took some notes.

“I need you to dig deep into your brain and remember some more, maybe with what I obtained you will be able to trigger some memories.”

“That kind of makes sense.”

“Perfect. Let's start ok.”

“Sure.”

“So yesterday I talked to Nicole, do you remember who she was?”

“Was she the one that Jenna talked about? As in the one that the stranger rejected?”

“Yep, she said that he was gay so you have a chance.”

“That's good, I guess.”, Jeremy said blushing slightly.

“She told me that he had brown eyes, also dark skinned.”

“Looks like I have a type.”, said Jeremy laughing.

“What do you mean?”, asked Christine raising her eyebrow.

“Brown eyes, dark skinned, nice.”

Christine laughed. “Yeah, you do. Also, I heard that you fell asleep in Michael's car after he decided to pick you up.”

Jeremy's eyes blew open as in if he remembered something. “Now that you mention it, I do actually remember that, the stranger took me from the bathroom to a car.”

“Really? Told you that I could help you jog your memory.”

“Kids! Come back to class and finish your report there.”, the teacher yelled to get her students’ attention.

“Thanks Chris, let's finish our work.”

***

The last bell finally rang and Jeremy went outside to where Michael was going to wait for him. They were going to have a guy's night out, alongside Jake and Rich. Originally it was going to be them two going to the arcade, but once Rich heard, he invited himself and Jake. He wanted to show Jake how he would destroy him any day in DDR. They were happy to hang out with them though, they had bets about who would win the game.

“Hey Michael, Jeremy.”, said Rich running towards him with Jake at his side.

“Sup guys, come on, let's go.”, said Michael. They didn't want to waste any other second.

They all got in the car, Jeremy in shotgun of course. They all jammed to some tunes that Rich had once he plugged his phone. If you asked them, nope, they weren't listening to the old Disney channel songs, nope no Camp Rock or Hannah Montana in here.

***

Christine decided that she was going to need a bit of help, even if she had promised to not tell anyone. She felt bad, but she trusted her friends in keeping it under wraps. She opened up their group chat and texted them.

JULIETIRL: GIRLS NEED HELP ASAP

INFOJEN: any day star ;)

QUEENOFHEARTS: get at room already girls

BROOKEBERRY: what do you need?

JULIETIRL: ITS TOO HOT TO TYPE I WANT TO MEET UP SOMEWHERE

QUEENOFHEARTS: you could come to my house, Brooke's already here, we could have like a fun girls night

BROOKEBERRY: OMG yes! That would be so exciting

INFOJEN: count me in, where there's gossip there's a Jenna

JULIETIRL: thanks so much guys and in such short notice. See you soon

Christine ended the conversation and picked up a bag that was across from her dresser. ‘Why is this here?’ Probably got distracted when she last had it. She placed some pjs and lady stuff to take to the Valentine's household. She told her parents about going out and they were more than fine with it, as long as she texted every so often to make sure she wasn't dead. She opened the door and exited her house, she made way to the sleepover after putting in some Broadway tunes to join her.

***

The arcade was empty surprisingly, maybe not since kids preferred to stay home nowadays. They entered and paid at the desk to get some tokens, they decided to pair up and play in their desired games. They would meet up later for teamwork based games, or just challenges between them. Rich practically dragged Jake to DDR since he wanted to settle things once and for all. Jeremy and Michael decided to go according to tradition and went straight to the Pac-man machine. You could hear screams from both sides, one competitive and one enthusiastic. After a while, Rich dragged Jeremy and Michael to the dance machine, he beat Jake he was on a roll, that meant that Michael had to pay Jeremy, who knew the most athletic guy at school would lose.

Next, Rich made Jeremy dance with him on the machine, they played some vocaloid song that Rich had eyed a while back. Ever since the accident, both of the friends discovered their shared liking towards Japanese culture. Rich was having the time of his life while Jeremy awkwardly tried to move to the beat. Jake and Michael laughed at their friends antics until they finished, Jeremy ended losing and sweating more than usual, trying to take a breather. Rich gave Jake a big, proud smile and moved his eyes towards Michael.

“Hey Michael, guess who’s turn it is to lose?”, Rich says mockingly.

“If I’m correct, that would be you Richard.”, Michael said as he got on the machine and looked around the song selection.

“Brave words coming from you bro.”

“Yeah yeah.” Michael said as he found one that called his interest. “YES! They have it.”, who knew Bob Marley's “A lalala long” was one of the options in this arcade game.

Jeremy, as he saw what Michael found, whispered to Jake. “Get ready to comfort your boyfriend cause he’s going down.”

“In your dreams Heere, he just beat you and me.”, Jake adds laughing.

“Yeah, but this song is Michael’s department, as in he pretty much dances to it everyday so get ready.”, Jeremy said as he saw the countdown start on the screen.

“Get ready to get your ass beaten boi.”, Michael screamed.

“Come at me Mell.”

Twenty seconds in and Michael already had passed Rich’s points. He swung side to side as he sang along, pretty much becoming one with the song.

“What the fuck dude, how are you doing this?”, Rich said as he tried to perfect every single movement.

“Me and Marley go way back dude, we are practically one in the same.”

You could pretty much hear Rich’s heartbeat go 100 mph as he got more competitive about the game. Jeremy just laughed at Jake’s disbelieved face, Jake looking at him with confusion. Jeremy mouthed an ‘I told you so’. A few minutes passed and Rich just kneeled in defeat, just like it said in his screen. Michael fist bumped Jeremy as he got down.

“Don’t put yourself down Goranski, there’s always next time.”, said Michael as he wiped his forehead.

“I-I lost.”, Rich looked at Jake with disbelieve. “That’s it Mell, how did you hack the game?”

“I guess I’m just that talented.”

All of the friends laughed together, Rich had decided to just drag Michael around looking for an arcade game where he could beat Michael in. I guess having pretty much visited the arcade for all his life, Michael was an actual expert in everything. Soon enough they exchanged the tickets that they had obtained at the kiosk, Michael obtaining a Pac-man plush as Jeremy got the ghost. Rich got some glow in the dark bracelets and headband. Jake decided to get a ping pong set. They ended up having a lot of fun and got in Michael’s car, he dropped off everyone of his friends in their respected houses and went back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will edit as time progresses.


	5. Plans Were Made

The Valentine's house came into view as Christine took a turn. She parked her car close to the home and she got out her car. She almost forgot her bag, but she turned back before coming close to the door. She knocked twice waiting for the door to open, which it did after a while.

“Hi Christine!”, said Brooke as she invited Christine in, she had a face mask on.

“Hi Brooke, who has arrived by the way?”

“We are all here now. Come upstairs, we are going to paint our nails soon so we can talk then.”

They headed upstairs into Chloe's room, Jenna was on her phone checking some social media, she looked up and saw Christine, her face turned into a big smile.

“Hey Chris.”, said Jenna as she patted the space next to her. “How are you?”

Christine blushed a bit the answered, “I'm good, just thinking.”

“Hey girls choose the colors for your nails and Chris, why don't you tell us why were gathered here today.”, Chloe said as she grabbed the purple and silver colors.

“So, before beginning this meeting I have to announce some warnings. First, this is between us since I'm already breaking my promise towards Jere with this whole ordeal.”

“Oh, this is about Jerry,”, Brooke said. “did he finally realize that he has a thing for Michael?”

“Yes, but that's part one of the problem that I need help with.”, Christine said. “He told me that he discovered that he had a thing for Michael, but he also obtained a crush on the stranger at the party.”

She explained everything that had happened between Jeremy and the party. How he was confused about who to go for. The girls listened closely, putting their opinions here and there until she finished.

“So, Jeremy is so confused between who to choose, even though it is obvious that he should go for Michael, since they have more in common. He pretty much doesn't want to do anything until he solves this dilemma of his.”

“And they say that women are complicated.”, Chloe said as she had Brooke brush her hair.

Brooke added giggling, “So he has a type considering what you have told us.”

“Wait, did you guys notice that something just doesn't add up.”, Jenna added as she painted Christine's nails.

“What do you mean Jenna?”, Chloe asked.

“What Michael said in the phone call doesn't add up with what Jere remembers.”, she explained. “Chris can you repeat what Michael said about the party?”

“Well, he said that once he arrived at the party, he went inside and picked him up from the bathroom and took him to his car.”, Christine said as she recalled the conversation.

“Now what did Jeremy say that he remembered?”

“He said that the stranger….THE STRANGER WAS THE ONE WHO TOOK HIM TO THE CAR!”, Christine practically screamed.

Chloe shushed Christine, “Don't scream, we don't want to get into trouble with the neighbors.”

“Sorry, but, could it be?”, Christine asked herself.

“Now I'm confused.”, Brooke said.

Jenna then answered, “Brooke, it doesn't match up since Jeremy said that the stranger was the one to help him to the car and Michael said it was him.”

“Could it have been that it was a drunk misunderstanding?”, Brooke said.

Chloe laughed, “Yeah it may just have been a misunderstanding since they kind of look similar.”

Christine looked over at Chloe as she said, “Did you just notice what is happening? The stranger and Michael are one in the same.”

Brooke then added, “That makes sense if you think about it, only some people from school were invited and who else would help someone they just met to a car to take them to their best friend’s house.”

“It is said that if you really love someone, no matter what form they take you will still fall for them.”, Jenna then added.

Chloe then said, “It would make sense why everytime that the stranger was brought up into a conversation Michael would look kind of nervous.”

“Now that you mention it, that's actually true.”, Jenna said.

“That would explain why the day after I called Michael, he ran away from me when I called Jere to talk to him about this situation.”, Christine said as she recalled that morning.

“So… that means that Jeremy has a crush on two versions of Michael.”, Christine said as she went deep into thought. “That means that he will finally not be confused about this whole thing and finally declare his undying love to Michael.”

“Calm down Chris, we know how Jerry works, he probably won't ever believe it.”, Brooke said. “That means that we have to come up with a way to get Michael to tell Jeremy about him being the stranger. It should end up with both confessing.”

All of the girls agreed to come up with a plan, soon enough they ordered some pizza since they were all hungry. Chloe decided to pay for all of them and went downstairs to wait for the pizza delivery guy. Once she left, Jenna noticed that Christine was looking deep in thought.

“What's up Chris?”, Jenna asked.

“I was just wondering why Michael had a costume, as in mask and stuff if he didn't want to go to the party?”

“He was probably planning to go, but decided against it. Maybe after we sort the thing with Jeremy and Michael, we can ask him.”

“Ok.”, Christine ended up resting herself next to Jenna, Jenna blushing hard, but rested her head on top of Christine.

“PIZZA HAS ARRIVED!”, yelled Chloe as everyone jumped in surprise. She brought the box and started giving pieces to everyone.

“Now… let's get operation Boyf riends in action.”, said Brooke as she took a bite out of the pizza.

***

Michael arrived home where his moms where waiting for him. Every once in a while his moms and him get together to eat a family dinner. His mom Tala was always in other countries working, when she was home, they loved to spend their time together. The other one, Vale, was more of a stay at home thanks to her work. Sometimes she would also go to other countries, but she tended to spend more time at home then Tala. Michael loved both very much, but was slightly closer to Vale since she was the one who would always take care of him and spent most time showing him her likes. Thanks to both though, he ended up getting his love for the 80s era and vintage video games.

“Hi mahal, how was the arcade?”, Tala asked.

“It was great nanay.”, Michael said hugging his mom. “I beat Rich's butt in DDR.”

“That's my boy!.”, Vale yelled as she went to greet her son.

“Mami, what's for dinner?”

“Well cariño, I decided to spoil all of us and got pizza with breadsticks.”, Vale said as she brought the boxes.

“Yes! Thanks mami.”

They all started eating, talking about their day and future plans. Tala was announcing that she was going to Greece for about two weeks, she was going to bring small gifts to everyone. Vale was talking about some projects that she had to finish for her company. Michael mentioned some conspiracy theories that he had seen in videos, in which both his moms where seriously interested in. After a while, they separated, Tala went to clean up the dishes, Michael went to his basement to play for a while and Vale went to take out the trash. Once Tala and Vale finished their chores, the phone started ringing and they went to see who was calling.

“Hello, Mell residence, Vale speaking.”

“Hello Mrs. Mell, I was wondering if you could help us with something, it's Christine by the way.”

“Hi Christine, I would love to help, what do you need?”

“Well, you know how Jeremy and your son totally have a thing for each other right.”

“Obviously, I've known both of them for their whole life, I would be blind if I didn't notice.”

“So I have a plan to get both of them together.”

“I'm listening.”

***

“Dad I'm home.”, yelled Jeremy as he got in the house.

“Hi son, how was your evening? Do anything fun?”, said his dad as he prepared the plates for dinner.

“Went to the arcade with Michael, Rich and Jake. Michael beat Rich's ass in almost every arcade game their was.”

“Language and what would he have expected? You guys practically have lived there for a rather long part of your life.”

“I don't think he knew.”, Jeremy said laughing. “So what shall we be having tonight?”

“Well my good man, I've decided to order Chinese tonight.”

“Yes!”, said Jeremy punching the air in victory. “Thanks dad.”

“You're welcome son.”

They ate for a while in silence, they shared some things about what was happening in their life. Mr. Heere telling him about an annoying customer that he had that day. Jeremy told him about school, and work that he had to do. After finishing, Jeremy threw away the trash and headed to his room. Mr. Heere put away the leftovers until he got a call.

“Hello, Mr. Heere speaking.”

“Hi Mr. Heere. It's Brooke, Jeremy's friend.”

“Of course, shall I call Jeremy for you?”

“I was actually wondering if I could ask a favor?”

“Sure, what do you need young lady?”

“Well we both know that Jeremy and Michael have a thing for each other right?”

“Brooke I've known since I first saw them together. I have this whole bet going on with the Mell moms.”

“So we have a plan to make them end up together.”

“Sign me up.”

***

Rich and Jake decided to hang out after the arcade at Rich's house. They were planning to have a movie night together since Rich's parents where going to be gone for a while. Jake headed towards the kitchen to get some snacks, mostly popcorn and hot chocolate for himself and Rich. Rich headed upstairs to obtain some pillows and blankets from the closet to make a fort downstairs in the couch. He ended up placing all of the stuff over him making it kind of hard to see once he headed back to the living room. As he started making his descent down the stairs, he almost tripped a few times, Jake did manage to catch him in the last step.

“Jakey D help me put this stuff up.”

“Sure babe.”

They placed all the stuff in front of the couch and they started making the fort come to life. They got in with the food and they started watching a movie marathon. After a few movies, Jake started to fall asleep on Rich, until the phone started ringing.

“I'll get it Jakey.”, said Rich as he placed Jake's head on the pillow. He went to pick up his cell phone from his room.

“Sup Rich.”

“Hey Chloe, what's up?”

“We're trying to get the boyf riends together. You in?”

“I was the creator of that ship Chloe, OF COURSE I’M IN!”

“Next time, warn me if you're going to make me go deaf.”

“Sorry, ok, let's talk about it later.”

“Bye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Mahal: dear
> 
> Mami: mom
> 
> Cariño: sweetie


	6. Questions

“Hey Jere?”, asked Michael the next day as he went to visit Jeremy at his locker at school.

“What's wrong buddy?”, said Jeremy with a concerned expression in his face.

“Nothing really, it's just that, have you heard from the others lately?”, said Michael as he laid against the other locker.

“What do you mean?”, answered Jeremy as he closed his locker. They walked together to their morning class.

“Most of the time by now we would be bombarded with messages and stuff in our friend group.”

“They were just probably busy Micah.”

“All of them, at the same time?”, Michael stopped Jeremy as a realization came to mind. “What if they were abducted by aliens and we're probed. They probably blanked out until today.”

“Michael you should seriously stop watching conspiracies at night.”

“No can do Jere, both moms love it, if it's not from me its from them.”, they walked in silence for a while.

Jeremy decided to add with a saddened tone. “Do you think that maybe they are bored of us?”

“I don't think so, we just hanged out yesterday, I know I was acting a bit paranoid before, but I doubt that they would leave without a reason.”

“Yeah probably, at least you're still by my side.”

“It's a two player game.”, they laughed together and entered class.

***

“So… what's the first step in our plan again?”, asked Rich as they got together behind the school to not gain the attention from the other boys.

“We have to find a way to get Jeremy to ask Michael about if he was the stranger.”, Chloe answered.

“So we have to figure out a way to put that idea in his head without us telling him straight on.”, Christine added.

“Ha ha ha, straight on, nothing straight about this, well us actually.”, Rich said laughing.

“C'mon guys, maybe we should just each take turns trying to get Jeremy to realize this fact.”, said Brooke.

“How would we distract Michael though?”, asked Jake.

“Maybe we could go in pairs, you know, one distracts other acts.”, said Jenna.

“I think that it might work actually, let's do this.”, said Christine excitedly.

***

It was finally lunch time for the squad. Once Jeremy and Michael arrived, the table was quite empty, or, at least it was until Rich and Jake entered through the doors and headed straight there.

“Sup bros.”, Rich said as he sat down, Jake joining his side.

“Hey guys, where have you been? Haven't seen or heard from you for almost 24 hours.”, Michael said.

“Our phones ran out if battery yesterday and I guess we just haven't crossed paths today.”, Jake explained as he looked at Rich to see if they should take their turn.

“Oh ok.”, Jeremy said.

“Hey Mike?”, said Rich. “Could you take me to buy a snack or something? I'm not feeling like cafeteria food today.”

Michael looked a bit confused as he said, “Why don't you ask Jake?”

“Don't get me wrong man, I love Jake, being his boyfriend and all, but there's only so much Sbarro that one can eat in his lifetime.”

“I thought you loved Sbarro.”

“No babe you love it.”

“Well, I guess that's fine, are you coming Jeremy?”, said Michael as he turned to Jeremy.

“Actually, I wanted to ask something to Jeremy.”, Jake said quickly.

“I guess I'll stay.”, said Jeremy with a curious face.

“Sure, c’mon shortass.”, Michael said laughing running to his car.

“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME MELL?!”, said Rich as he ran after him leaving the other boys laughing.

After a while, Jeremy asked Jake, “What did you want to ask me?”

“Just a peculiar fact that I overheard, to be truthful, I just wanted to ask your opinion.”, said Jake as Jeremy's face turned sickly pale.

“S-sure. Go ahead.”

“Do you remember about the whole stranger dude from the party that was like a thing a few days ago?”

“Yes? Why do you ask?”

“I just wanted to point out something, since you are Michael's best friend.”

“What does Michael have to do with this?”

“It's just that I noticed when Jenna started commenting about it, Michael seemed nervous, almost like he was hiding something.”

“I don't remember that.”

“Yeah, he was like looking anywhere other than Jenna and he was trying to ignore the subject.”

“He was probably confused since he didn't go to the party.”

“But what if he like knew who he was or something, maybe he knew stuff that we didn't and he was nervous about being asked about it.”

“I doubt that, I mean, he would have told me. I think maybe it was because I talked to him about the stranger.”

“What did you tell him?”, Jake said with a knowledgeable smirk.

Jeremy started heavily blushing, deciding what to tell him, he decided to just come clean about it, “I may or may not have obtained a small crush on that guy thanks to some interactions that we had at the party.

“That actually makes sense, you were oddly interested on him.”

“I guess that I don't hide my feeling well.”

“Yeah, I still think that you should talk to Michael about him, I feel like he hasn't been entirely truthful.”

“Nah, I don't wanna bother him more than I have already.”

“At least think about it. Hey look their back!”

***

After running towards the car, Michael opened the door quickly, locking the doors, trying to calm his breathing. Rich started screaming at him banging the door. He calmed down after some seconds and Michael let him in.

“Sorry Rich.”, said Michael with a chuckle as he started the car.

“Sorry, sure, like I would believe that.”

“So… what's the actual reason why you wanted to leave?”

“What do you mean? I'm just hungry for non cardboard pizza.”

“Sure and my real name is Marley, spit it out Goranski.”

“I just wanted to ask how your love life is going, you know, get all personal about it.”, Rich was one of the only people who knew his gigantic crush on Jeremy.

“It's exactly the same as its always been, I'm just his best friend, nothing more.”

“Don't give up man, I bet something has or will happen with both of you.”

Michael laughed nervously thinking that maybe Rich had somehow found out that he was the stranger and that Jeremy seemed to like that version of himself.

“Seriously though, I am craving some pizza.”, Rich said.

***

BROOKEBERRY: Hey Chlo!

QUEENOFHEARTS: Hi Brooke

BROOKEBERRY: Do you think that Rich and Jake will be able to convince Jerry?

QUEENOFHEARTS: I'm not sure, but knowing them, no.

BROOKEBERRY: Yeah, I doubt that they would

QUEENOFHEARTS: Yeah, like what would they even do

BROOKEBERRY: I've spent enough time with Jerry to know that he is quite oblivious and blind to simple things

QUEENOFHEARTS: Yeah, you've told me

BROOKEBERRY: I may have an idea

QUEENOFHEARTS: What are you thinking?

BROOKEBERRY: What if we go to pinkberry?

QUEENOFHEARTS: Pinkberry is ALWAYS a good idea, but what does it have to do with getting the boys together?

BROOKEBERRY: We could go in my mother's car. Only one catch we try to help him realize it in another environment

QUEENOFHEARTS: Yeah, maybe with some frozen yogurt and no school distractions we could get him to think

BROOKEBERRY: Yeah, meet me in science class and then we'll find the boys

QUEENOFHEARTS: I'll just skip class, see you soon Brooke

***

JULIETIRL: How was it guys?

BIANDFLY: It started well, I distracted Michael and Jake took care of the thing with Jere

JULIETIRL: And?

JAKEYBAY: It didn't work dude, that man is stubborn

JULIETIRL: It's not going to be easy, but we'll get there

***

Jeremy and Michael were walking through the hallways about to leave school, but someone started calling there name.

“Michael! Jeremy! Wait for us.”, yelled the girls as they ran after them.

“Hey guys.”, said Jeremy as he stopped.

“Hi Jerry, we were wondering if you would like to go to Pinkberry with us.”, Brooke said.

Jeremy looked over to Michael, but he just smiled back mouthing a ‘Don't worry about me.’.

“Sure, but, could Michael go with us?”, Jeremy said, he didn't wanna leave Michael.

Chloe and Brooke looked at each other trying to figure out how to modify their plan since they kind of forgot that this was a possibility.

“Don't worry girls it's fine.”, Michael said quickly trying to not be a bother.

“No, no it's fine.”, Chloe said not wanting to hurt Michael. “I wanted to talk to you about something anyway.”

“Are you sure it's fine?”, Michael asked.

“Of course it would be no problem, but, what about your car?”, asked Brooke.

Jeremy answered, “Actually, he didn't bring his car today, we came here walking since it was nice outside.”

“I guess it just works for everyone, let's go.”, said Chloe as she dragged them towards Brooke's mom's car.

***

As they arrived to the place, Brooke took Jeremy's hand and brought him towards the table to hold a spot for their friends.

“But, aren't we gonna get some?”, asked Jeremy.

“Chloe already knows what I like and Michael totally knows your likes so it's fine. Plus, I want to talk to you about something.”

“You too? Jake said the same thing.”

“Well, it's probably something related actually. I just wanted to see if you knew why Michael was kind of distant with the whole party thing when we were talking.”

“Well, I guess it was because he didn't go. He probably didn't feel like he was part of the conversation since he didn't know what we were talking.”

“Yeah, but, I find it strange that he seemed uncomfortable with the stranger.”

‘Wow, she brought up the same thing as Jake.”, Jeremy thought.

“Like I told Jake, I bet it's just a coincidence.”

“Are you sure? Nothing is really coincidence in this world.”

“Could we talk about something else please? Look they're coming back.”


	7. Take a Hint

“Hey Chlo? Can I ask a bit of a personal question?”, Michael asked as he went towards the strawberry and original section.

“You may ask, doesn't mean I'll answer.”, Chloe said as she poured some frozen yogurt, original flavored for Brooke and chocolate for herself.

“It's just that, you have a thing for Brooke right?”

Chloe almost choked at that statement, was she that obvious?, “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing against it,”, Michael said pointing at his pride patch. “it's just that I guess that I notice it because I have experience with it.”

“Yeah, Jeremy is just oblivious bud, you both have it bad for each other.”

Michael started to blush, “We should both get it together and ask them already, she makes heart eyes to you every single moment. Like right now.”

Chloe looked back and she saw Brooke eyeing her, but soon looked away after seeing Chloe look back at her.

“Well this was a pleasant conversation, let's pay for this things.”

***

“Hey guys we got your stuff.”, said Michael.

“Thanks Michael, Chloe.”, said Brooke.

“Hey Brooke, could you come here a second.”, said Chloe. “We'll be right back boys we're going to the bathroom.”

“Sure.”, said Jeremy.

They soon left while Jeremy and Michael ate their frozen yogurt together.

“Don't you think is weird that girls most of the time go together to the bathroom?”, Michael said as a matter of fact.

“Meh, I don't judge, probably going to go talk about something.”

“Yeah probably.”, Michael said back as he grabbed his head. “Ouch, brain freeze.”

Jeremy looked at Michael with a smug grin as Michael said. “Don't you dare.”

“FREEZE YOUR BRAIN.”

“That's it, I'm disowning you.”

“What? But you love that song.”

“It's supposed to be sung with studies.”

“Well...can't see any fault it that logic.”

“What was Brooke talking about? If you don't mind me asking.”

“Nothing important really, it was just an observation that she had made.”

“Ok, seems interesting.”

“Not really, what about you? What did Chloe talk about?”

“Failed love story that I won't go to much into detail because she'll kill me if I spill her secrets.”

“That's, nevermind. Oh look, they're coming back.”

***

“Why are guys so fucking stupid and stubborn?”, Chloe said as she freshened up in the bathroom.

“I know what you mean, why can't he just accept it or at least give it a shot.”

“That's why I'm into girls.”, Chloe said quietly.

“Wait what, you like girls?”, said Brooke in surprise.

“What no, no, maybe, yes.”

“You should have told me, I do too, I'm pan.”

“Really? I'm lesbian.”

“I guess we are discovering new things everyday of each other.”

“We should probably go back soon. Our frozen yogurt will melt if we don't.”

***

“Welcome back girls, your yogurt was starting to melt.”, Michael said as he and Jeremy made space for them to sit.

“Sorry, we lost track of time.”, Brooke said as she started eating her treat.

Michael looked at Chloe's eyes, but she wouldn't return his stare, a faint blush creeping on her face. That was enough confirmation for Michael though. They talked a bit more about school gossip that they had heard and some plans for the future with their other friends. After a while, they finished and headed to Brooke's mother’s car. They ride was quite pleasant, singing along to the radio and looking out through the window. As they reached Michael's house, they got out and said their goodbyes and thank yous.

As they walked towards the door, Michael's moms opened the door to greet them.

“Hi Jere, hi mahal.”, said Tala as she let them in.

“Hi nanay, hi mami.”, Michael said back hugging them.

“Nice to see you Vale and Tala.”, Jeremy said back waving.

“Why so distant, come here Jeremy.”, said Vale as she took him by the arm and hugged him.

“Moms why were you guys by the door? Were you spying on us?”, said Michael with a look of suspicion.

“We are not your moms, we are some alien imposters looking for information towards human teenagers and what they do.”, Vale said as emotionless as she could.

“Sometimes I wonder how you turned out like you did, then this type of things happen and I remember perfectly.”, Jeremy said laughing, soon the others joined him, he loved Michael's moms, they were just so funny and nice.

“Well, he got the crazy part from mahal ko over there. He got the looks from me.”, Tala said as she grabbed Vale by the waist.

“I see no fault in that logic, well, I'll leave you boys be. Oh, by the way, a girl called.”, Vale said as she remembered.

“Really, who?”, asked Jeremy.

“Christine was her name.”

“Oh, what did she want?”, Michael asked curiously.

“She just wanted you guys to know that she was going to come over with Jenna in about…,”, Vale checked her watch. “now.” The doorbell rang.

“If you guys need anything we will be in the kitchen making a snack.”, Tala said as she dragged Vale.

“Is it my idea or are we just really popular today?”, Jeremy asked as he walked towards the door to open it.

“I know right? We barely hang out as is most days.”

As they were about to open the door, they heard from the other side. “OPEN THE OPEN THE DOOR PLEASE VERONICA OPEN THE DOOR.”

They laughed as they slammed the door open. Christine launched over them and hugged them, Jenna close behind waving.

“What brings you ladies to my marilag casa?”, said Michael as they all headed towards the basement.

“Well I wanted to talk to Jeremy and I knew that he would 99% be here.”, Christine answered.

“Cool. So that means that Jenna is my distraction.”, Michael said as a matter of fact.

Christine looked at Jenna with a scared face, thinking that they may have been discovered.

Michael just laughed at their faces saying, “I'm joking. Come Jenna, let's leave this theater nerds, you can come here to the couch, they can take the bean bags.”

As they separated, Michael asked something to Jenna, “I don't mean to intrude or anything, but, do you have a thing for Miss Juliet over there?”

The question hit Jenna with surprise, but she wasn't gonna deny it. “Yeah, I mean, how could you not? She is just so happy and optimistic.”

Michael gave a chuckle as he said, “It's funny to see how none of us are even remotely straight.”

“Yeah I suppose, how's the thing with Jere? If you get Christine from me, then I get to know stuff about your own love life.”

“Nothing has changed really, except for that whole stranger thing. Between you and me, I'm pretty sure he has a thing for that guy.”, Michael thought that if he talked about himself like that, he could prove that it wasn't him. He kind of overheard part of the conversation that Jeremy was having with Christine, not all but, he heard something about the stranger.

“That's no surprise, anyone can see that much.”

“Yeah,”, he felt happy that some people think that Jeremy has a thing for him, even if it wasn't necessarily him. “so, how's the yearbook club going?”

“It's...progressing. We are still trying to find the categories for this year

“Cool, do you want to play some 3ds Smash Bros? You can use Jeremy's.”

“Sure, I call dibs on Pit though.”

“That's fine, Kirby's mine.”, he thanks his mom, Vale, for being so obsessed with Kirby and teaching him all of his skills.

***

“So, how's life?”, asked Jeremy trying to figure out what this whole thing was about. If anyone else asked about the stranger he was finally going to snap.

“Pretty good actually.”, said Christine excitedly as she continued. “The play is getting closer everyday and I was wondering if you wanted to practice our lines every so often to get them just perfect.”

“I would like that yes.”, a minute if silence passed between them. Christine looked she was about to spill about something. “Out with it Chris, I can see how much you're dying to tell me something.”

“Yeah, but, I'm trying to figure out how to word it to not annoy you.”

“Just say it.”

“I know that pretty much everyone else has already said it to you, but as your friend and helper, you should really ask Michael more about the dance, I feel like he left out a lot of details.”

“You know what Chris? Fine. If so many people are going to keep taking about this, might as well ask him at least.”, Jeremy said finally giving in to what the others were saying. “Just… not today.”

“That's all that we wanted, you know that we just want the beat for you.”, I'll leave you be now, me and Jenna are going to the movies anyway.”, she hugged Jeremy and called Jenna so that they could leave.

“Nooo! I was just about to win Michael at Smash Bros.”, Jenna yelled.

“Win as in I've beat you two times in a row and this was the only time that you didn't due in the first 5 seconds.”, Michael said teasingly.

“You know what Chris, let's leave, I won't take this bullying.”

They all laughed as they headed towards the entrance. They said their goodbyes and parted ways. Michael and Jeremy heading back downstairs after getting some extra snacks. They turned on the tv and decided to watch a movie for now. They might okay later. Michael tried to figure out what the conversation with Christine was about, a bit paranoid about some of the possibilities that played around his head, but Jeremy just dismissed it. He said that it was about play rehearsal anyway. Soon enough, they dozed off, Michael's mom entering the room to announce that it was time for Jere to leave, but, after seeing them cuddling together, Vale just took a picture and sent it to Mr. Heere staring that his boy was probably going to stay the night. Mr. Heere answers back with a laugh saying that it was fine, he was going to drop off some clothes for his son soon though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Nanay: mom
> 
> Marilag: majestic
> 
> Casa: house


	8. Parent Time

It wasn't uncommon to see the Mell moms, or M&Ms as nicknamed by a young Jeremy, hanging out with Mr. Heere. Ever since their children befriended each other, they all became good friends. Today, they went to a coffee shop near their homes to talk about some pressing matters. They first talked about what was going on with their life, laughing about stuff here and there. Tala and Vale did end up bringing up how Mr. Heere was taking the divorce, they were really excited to know that he was finally getting over it. They even promised him to help with future dating if he wanted.

“As much as I love taking about life, I think it's time to talk about our sons' future together.”, Tala said going into this fake business accent.

“Ah yes Mrs. Mell, I believe you also received the call from the friends.”, Mr. Heere said also copying the business voice.

“I can't believe they are so blind to see the love, amor, thing between them.”, Vale said clearly amused. “They're even worse than all the love stories I've read.”

“Is that what we are calling your fanfictions now.”, joked Tala as she hugged Vale.

“Don't expose me angel.”, she answered, blushing heavily.

“I see what you mean, we have to figure out a plan to make them confess.”, Mr. Heere said, laughing at his friends antics. “Wait I have an idea. Let's put some ideas in their heads, as in annoy them with it.”

“That could work, we could also give them some alone time, Tala is soon leaving and we can create this fake story about wanting to do something else.”, Vale said excitedly.

“We can put on our serious parent voice and tell them that they have to be together since we are all leaving and we want them to be safe.”, Tala added.

“That could totally work, it was a pleasure doing business with both of you.”, Mr. Heere said as she shook their hands.

“Likewise”, answered both of the moms.

They finished their coffees and parted ways, leave no clues about their meeting.

“Hey mahal ko?”, said Tala.

“Yes angel?”, answered back Vale as she grabbed her hand.

“Gusto mo bang manood ng sine?”

“You make it sound like if it was a secret.”, laughed Vale, but then she quickly added. “Claro que sí amor.”

They both laughed at their actions. Since both of them are multilingual, they liked to speak in their own language to act like if it was a secret. They used to redo it all the time when they were friends and they wanted to comment stuff without other people interfering. They went to watch a comedy, since if the wanted some romance drama they could just see their son's life.

***

Two days after his impromptu sleepover, Jeremy found himself talking with his dad in the living room. The place looked way bigger after getting rid of his father's bowflex after the renovation that they did around the place after the play. Mr. Heere thought that it was finally time to get rid of anything that reminded him of his ex wife. To start a new page, it's not like he was going to really use it anyway. He did tell Jeremy that he might go into a diet or get a gym membership next year for New Year's resolution or something along those lines.

“Hey son, I've been meaning to tell you about something.”, Mr. Heere said after a while of just laughing at the high expectations of men in this romance type game show on TV.

“Sure dad... what is it?”, Jeremy started getting nervous, Mr. Heere never tended to get serious when it came to conversation between them, except the one before the play.

“Don't give me that face son, it's nothing bad, I'm just going to visit some family.”, you could practice see Jeremy's face change from nervousness to confusion to interested.

“What's the occasion?”

“I just felt like I haven't seen my old folks in years, and I would like to have some time with them. Just myself, don't worry.”

“Oh… that's nice I guess.”

“You will be staying over at Michael's though. I don't know if he already told you, which wouldn't surprise me,” said Mr. Heere with a smirk and a wink, making Jeremy blush a bit at the indications. “that his moms are also leaving for some reason. We don't want you boys staying alone so we arranged it into both of you guys staying together.”

“That sounds fun I guess, we probably would have done that anyway.”, Jeremy noted to himself to talk about this with Michael later.

“I'll be leaving tomorrow, I'll leave some money for food and stuff for you don't worry.”

“Thanks dad.”

“You're welcome son. Side note, ”, Mr. Heere, added. “Once you're with Michael, please try to resolve this romantic tension between both if you.”

Jeremy looked at his father with wide eyes, blushing out of control by now.

“Don't look so astonished, I am your dad, I notice these types of things and if anything happens, use protection.”, said Mr. Heere as he walked fast towards his room laughing.

“DAD!”, shrieked Jeremy as he stood there frozen before heading to his room ignoring what just happened.

Mr. Heere made sure to text the M&Ms that the deed was done while Jeremy texted Michael a ‘I need to talk asap'.

***

“Bye nanay, see you in a few weeks.”, said Michael as he said farewell to Tala, she was on going to board a plane to Ireland or something like that.

“Paalam anak, don't miss me too much will you.”, said Tala hugging her son, she also whispered. . “Take care of your mamá, make sure she doesn't run into trouble.”

“I will.”, said Michael with a smile, their love was still going strong and Michael adored it.

“I heard that.”, said Vale.

“I know love, take care ok?”

“Of course angel, you too. If anyone lands a hand on you, yo misma les voy a arrancar el alma.”

Tala laughed, soon joined by Vale and Michael. Tala kissed Vale farewell and waived as she passed through security. As soon as she was out of sight, Vale and Michael turned around and went back to the car. Vale offered to buy Michael a slushie, which, obviously, he couldn't refuse. They headed towards 7/11 and went inside both getting red flavored slushie since, according to them, it's the best flavor ever for ice. As they headed back home, Vale told Michael that she wanted to talk for a bit, they gave thus talks every so often, to fill each other in their life and to share new stuff.

“I promise that after this, we can just have a marathon of conspiracy theory videos.”, said Vale as she drank some of her slushie.

“Freeze your brain!”, sang Michael as she finished.

“Shatter your skull fight pain with more pain.”, they both laughed together. They were pretty much copies of each other, at least, that's what Tala would say about them.

“Before we enter this life changing talk, I will now announce some news.”, said Vale in a announcer voice.

“Go ahead mami.”

“I will be going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship,”, Vale started laughing she just loves memes. “I'll just stop myself, I saw the opportunity and had to take it.”

Michael rolled his eyes, but, he would have done the same thing. Memes are one of the reasons why people wake up each day.

“In a more serious note, I will be taking a trip to visit some old childhood friends for the next few days, I just wanted to say that you will have our casa all to yourself. I talked with Mr. Heere and, guess what, he's also taking a trip, so we coordinated for both of you guys to stay together.”

“That sounds great mom.”, Michael said smiling.

“Yes, and Micah, please alleviate some of these romantic tension between both of you, I can barely take it as is.”

Michael blushed, but his crush was not a secret between him and his mom, she was a great person to talk to, even if she did tease him a bit. “Mami, you know that he no me quiere de ese modo.”

“So you keep saying, but puedo verlo claramente.”

“Maybe I'll try to give it a shot.”

“That's my son.”

“Now that we got that out of the way, I have to tell you this thing that happened to me.”

“I'm all ears son.”

A whole explanation about the night at the party, the questions from his friends and the weird phone call with Christine aside, Vale was clearly amused by what was happening.

“That's not even the worst part.”, said Michael. “He confessed to me that he felt something, as in crush, towards this stranger that was actually me.”

“I know you are tired of me reiterating this but, you are so much worse than the romantic drama I read.”

“What a fancy word for fanfiction mami, but still, what do I do?”

“As your mom, the only thing I can advise is that you should come clean, it is obvious that you both have a thing for each other, you just need a small push. Find a way to talk through and then let the romance happen.”

“I wish it was that easy.”

Vale smiled at her son, giving him hug, “Take your time, if it's meant to be, you'll end up together in no time. And, if you're worried about his feelings, remember what they say, if a person truly loves someone, no matter what shape they take, their love won't change.”

“Thanks mom, I really needed to take that out oil my chest.”

“Anytime love.”

“I think I was promised some conspiracies.”

“Coming right up, pass me the remote.”

After a few hours of watching TV and having so many ideas stuck in their brains, they decided to separate and do their own thing for a while. Vale received a text message from Mr. Heere saying that the deed was done, she texted a ‘likewise'. She also send her wife a ‘I miss you and love you so much, also, step one and two have been completed'.

Michael closed the door to his basement and as soon as he took a sit in his bean bag, player 2 started texting him, he answered as quickly as possible.

QUEERISHEERE: dude, did you also get the news about our parents leaving?

GAYMELL: yeah bro, it's kinda freaky actually

GAYMELL: as in...at the sale time

QUEERISHEERE: totally, but at least we get the house to ourselves

GAYMELL: yesss, video games and snacks all day and all night

QUEERISHEERE: looking forward to hanging out with you

GAYMELL: gAyY

QUEEREISHEERE: says the one with gay in there name

GAYMELL: their*

QUEERISHEERE: ducking autocorrect

QUEERISHEERE: *ducking

QUEERISHEERE: FUCK

GAYMELL: i cant stop laughing

QUEERISHEERE: at least my misery entertains you

GAYMELL: :P

QUEERISHEERE: put that back young man

GAYMELL: >:P

QUEERISHEERE: don't give me that attitude

GAYMELL: ;p

QUEERISHEERE: :O

GAYMELL: you should pack stuff for your arrival to my casa boi

QUEERISHEERE: who says we are staying at your house

GAYMELL: the one with the cool basement

QUEERISHEERE: i see no fault in that logic

QUEERISHEERE: but ok, only if you call me and I put you on speaker

GAYMELL: whiny whiny, but ok you furry

QUEERISHEERE: am not nerd

GAYMELL: we both know that im classified as a geek, use your terms correctly

QUEERISHEERE: dork, just call me

GAYMELL: why dont you call me :p

QUEERISHEERE: fine, only if you stop using that tongue on me

QUEERISHEERE: that sounded wrong, ignore that last sentence

GAYMELL: a tongue is not the only thing that i'll be using on you ;-)

QUEERISHEERE: shut the fuck up, you know what I meant

GAYMELL: using bad words, ouch, im insulted, frick you too

*QUEERISHEERE is calling*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Amor: love
> 
> Mahal ko: my love 
> 
> Gusto mo bang manood ng sine?: Would you like to go watch a movie?
> 
> Claro que sí amor: Of course love
> 
> Paalam anak: goodbye my child
> 
> Mamá: mom
> 
> yo misma les voy a arrancar el alma: I will rip out their soul myself
> 
> no me quiere de ese modo: he doesn't like me that way 
> 
> puedo verlo claramente: I can see it clearly.


	9. Time Alone

“Remember cariño, if anything bad happens, call 911 and also me.”, Vale said as she headed towards the front door. 

“Yeah I know mami, I'll be careful.”, Michael said as he got ready to close the door. 

“You know I love you, verdad?”

“Te amo too mom.”

They shared a hug and a kiss on the cheek, as Vale said her goodbyes.Before letting go, she whispered, “Try to get that boy to open his eyes ok, he's more blind than Arnold sometimes I swear.”

Michael just laughed at his mom's Hey Arnold reference, he only got it because she practically forced him to watch a marathon a while back. Not like he actually enjoyed it or anything, who's he kidding, old shows rock. He waved as his mom got in a car and drive away. Now he just needed to wait a few minutes for Mr. Heere to drop off Jeremy and they can start their plans. He ended up not needing to wait long, since he heard a car stop in front of his house. 

Jeremy was about to open the door until his father stopped him. 

“Hey sport, don't get into too much trouble ok?”, Mr. Heere said.

Jeremy just smiled as he answered, “You know us, probably not even going to leave that house, only for school.”

“Yeah, I'll miss you son, I love you remember that.”

“I'll miss you too, and likewise.”

They shared a hug and Jeremy got out of the car, getting his bag from the back. He joined Michael by the door and waved goodbye to his father as he drive off. They entered the house and went straight to the basement so that Jeremy could leave his bag. Michael asked Jeremy if he wanted to go to 7/11 first so that they could stick up on snacks before their time alone began. He obviously said yes and Michael went gayly forward, as he likes to say, towards his car. As you could imagine, they bought slushies, all the different types of candy that they like, some Doritos and tortilla chips to munch, and some soda. 

As they arrived back home, they out what they weren't planning in eating today in the kitchen and the rest went downstairs with them. They decided to play Resident Evil on the Gamecube taking turns everytime one of them died. This went on for a while, they sometimes switched to AOTD or Mario Party which didn't last long since they got into a very competitive mind set. They later decided to watch something to eat the snacks without the feeling of doing it fast because their turn was soon approaching. They decided to watch binge watch Super Mario Brothers Super Show, it may be bad, but it was entertaining as hell.

As episode by episode flew by, Jeremy caught himself thinking. He would look over at Michael studying his face that had the TV might casted on his face. He studied his facial expressions, how certain parts would make him smirk or how he would try to hold his laughter back. Everytime an episode would finish, he would do the little dance at the end, making Jeremy laugh every single time. Yep, Jeremy fell for a dork that probably didn't share his feelings. 

He tried to push his feelings away and tried to focus on his friendship instead. As he tried to change topics in his brain, he remembered what the others were telling him for this past few days. How could Michael keep information from him? Or, how would he even have information in the first place? Maybe something happened while he was drunk and Michael just didn't know how to bring it up. Yeah, that's probably what it is. 

Michael could sense that he was being watched, by Jeremy, nonetheless. He was starting to get panicky, but he decided to just dismiss it for him thinking and not knowing that he was looking his way. For a moment there, he felt that there was a change of atmosphere and everything just felt a tad sad. 

“Hey Jere, is everything ok? You seem a bit off.”, Michael said as he turned towards his friend. 

“Oh, yeah, everything's fine, just thinking about stuff.”, Jeremy said trying to sound fine. 

Michael got closer to him and hugged him, “You know you can tell me anything right?”

“Yeah, maybe later, I just have to sort some stuff in this mess that I call brain.

Michael laughed at that, smiling brightly, “Fine, but once you stop going Spongebob crazy up in there, I'll be all ears.

“Thanks Micah.”

“Any day Jer-bear.”

They ended up cuddling together in a totally platonic kind of way if you asked them. Soon enough they fell asleep in that same position, they didn't even wake up surprised, they both knew that they were guilty cuddlers, most of the time both ending up somehow intertwined with the other. They soon had to get ready for school they ended up challenging each other to see who could finish their morning routine first. Michael was the first to finish and waited for Jeremy at his car. He honked a few times to make it clear who had won, who was the alpha. 

Jeremy ran up to the car, hair a mess since he didn't have time to tame it. Michael just laughed, seeing Jeremy run was a rare sight. It was cute seeing him all red and with messy hair. He ran his hand through his hair to help him tame it a bit. It was quite early so they made a pit stop at 7/11 to get some coffee, only lame kids would go to Starbucks.

As they walked towards the entrance, they saw their squad waiting for them, they seemed to be scanning them very intensely. 

“Do we have something in us?”, Jeremy said as he looked at his clothes, maybe trying to rush out wasn't such a good idea. 

“No, nothing's wrong, we were just thinking.”, Christine said as she looked down a but in disappointment.

“Cool...let's get going, before the bell rings.”, Michael said, trying to make it less awkward.

“Yes let's go, common Chloe, I need to get stuff from my locker.”, said Brooke, grabbing Chloe's arm and dragging her. 

They all dispersed, both boys walked towards their lockers. They put the event that just happened in their heads, trying to figure out what exactly was going on between their friends. 

“That was weird.”, said Jeremy.

“Yeah, not the weirdest thing either”, said Michael.

“Well, see you later Micah.”

“See you at lunch Jere.”

The day went by as normal, just another boring high school day. As always, the teachers left a bunch of assignments and projects to do for the next few weeks. Once lunch period arrived, they were thankful for a break from all the learning, or, well, pretending to listen while you text your friends. As Michael headed towards the usual table were he sat with Jere, someone stopped him.

“Hey Michael, I need your advice about something, plus some news that I want to share.”, said Chloe as she grabbed Michael's arm. 

“Alone or as a group?”, Michael said raising an eyebrow, curious about what was happening to his friend. 

“Would it be a group thing if I were to talk to you here, without the whole group?”

“Yeah, sorry, should have guessed.”

“It's fine let's go outside by the trees.”

They walked outside, Michael grooving to the beat of his headphones while Chloe looked around, hoping that no one would follow them outside. They reached the shadow of a tree, we're Chloe sat down, pulling Michael down with her. She signaled for him to take off his headphones, which meant that this was serious business.

“What's going around in your brain for you to want to talk to a peasant like me?”, said Michael jokingly. 

“As any queen from her kingdom, she needs an advisor to overview her plans and, well, advise her.”, Chloe said joining his act. 

“Pleasant to advisor, not bad. Anyways, how's it hanging?”

“I've been great, to be truthful, just that something happened between me and...you know who.”

“I suppose that we're talking about le girl crush.”

“Thanks mister obvious, but wait until I tell you what's going on.”

“Well, I'm all ears, and mouth, and body to say the least.”

Chloe chuckled a little bit, but then said, “Do you remember when we went to Pinkberry and Brooke and I went to the restroom?”

“That's a thing that I will never understand about females, how come they always go to the bathroom in pairs? To answer the question, yes I remember.”

“We were taking and somehow I blurted out that I like girls on accident.”

“How can you do that by accident?”

“I don't know, it just happened.”

“And?”

“She said, guess what, so does she!”

“That's great Chlo, you have more opportunity now to get it on with your bff.”

“That's where I need the advice to come in, how do I tell her I like her without making a fool of myself.”

“Two things, first, it's practically impossible for you to make a fool of yourself. Second, why are you asking me? You surely have other friends that could be more helpful than someone that had been in love with their best friend for years and has kept it a secret.”

“Two things back at you Michael. First, Jenna would probably, accidentally tell someone else, Christine would try something musical related, you don't ask your ex boyfriend for help, I don't trust Rich, Jere is way worse than you. Second, it is said that those that are going through the same thing as you give great advice even though they themselves don't follow it.”

“I guess you are right.”

“Aren't I always, anyway, help me.”

“In my opinion, you should just go right ahead and say it. No need for anything special really, the truth and what can blossom from it is special enough. Maybe, if you wanted it a little different, you could buy her some Pinkberry and say 'I'll give you this if you give me your heart instead'. Or something less cheesy like ‘Will you become my girlfriend? If you do, there's plenty more where that came from.’ I don't know, I just think that that would be cute and funny at the same time.”

“That may actually work, if not, I can blame it in a brain freeze or something. Thanks Michael, I told you that you would be a great advisor. Case closed. I call this reunion officially over. Let's go back in before our future partners and friends get worried.”

Michael laughed as he stood up, giving Chloe a hand up. He placed his headphones back where they belong and walked/danced towards the entrance again, Chloe next to him. They went straight towards the table, no one batting an eye towards their arrival, just some Hellos here and there. Michael could see the discomfort on Jeremy's eyes as he sat down next to him. 

Michele whispered low enough so that only Jeremy could hear, “Are you ok buddy? You look a tad uncomfortable.”

Jeremy looked back at Michael and just shrugged as he answered, “I'm fine Micah, just some weird questions asked here and there.”

“Sorry for not coming sooner, but Chloe needed some girl talk time.”

“But you're a boy dude.”

“Gays get a pass Heere,”, Michael said jokingly. “I don't know why, but we do.”

“I'll take your word for it, do you want some of my lunch since you didn't get anything?”

“It's fine, I'll probably just have a blue bar later.”

“Nice vine reference bro.”

“Thanks dude.”

They laughed for some time, ignoring all the looks that their friends were giving them, or maybe they just didn't notice. The squad was gonna get then together if it's the last thing they do. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Cariño: sweetie
> 
> Mami: mom
> 
> Verdad: right
> 
> Te amo: I love you


	10. Information and Just Dance

‘I wonder where Michael is.’, thought Jeremy as he sat down at their usual table, Soon enough the table was slowly filled by his other friends. There was only two spaces empty, one beside him and one beside Brooke. ‘Maybe they're still in class, teachers tend to like to talk to students in breaks.’

The rest of the group thought that maybe Chloe had taken Michael away so that they could have a talk with Jeremy about his situation. Christine slid towards Jeremy, so that she could whisper to him.

“Yo, did you ask Michael about what we discussed a few days ago?”

“No mom, I promised that I was going to do it later. Maybe today or tomorrow. My dad and his moms left us alone so we have all the time in the world, until they come back that is.”

“I don't wanna sound like I'm imposing too much in your guy's relationship, but maybe a deep talk between you too could lead up to some dating later on.”

“You should get my hopes up Chris, we don't even know if he actually knows anything, plus, how could something he could say could lead to us dating?”

“Life is just full of surprises Jere, but at least keep that in mind ok.”

“Absolutely, thanks anyway Chris.”

“It's fine.”, she slid back towards her usual sit, finishing the conversation.

“Hey Tall-ass.”, called Rich.

“Yeah arson-boi.”

“Ouch, too soon man. Can I ask you something?”

“Don't call me Tall-ass then and sure, you can ask, but that doesn't mean I'll answer.”

“Touché, I was asking around, as in peeps form this table if they have ever thought romantically of one of their friends.”

Jeremy started blushing hard, but he tried to cover it, “Y-yeah so?”

“I wanted to know if you had those thoughts about anyone, simple as that.”

“I think it's common knowledge that I used to think about Christine and I,”, Jeremy said, then he added. “not anymore obviously.”

“We knew that.”, said Jake as he hugged Rich. “But, like, anyone else.”

“Don't worry, it's between us and the thoughts don't have to mean anything anyway.”, Brooke said with a smile.

“We'll even join if you want.”, said Jenna. “I'm more than a gossip dispenser, I won't tell anyone.”

“Since I asked, I'll do first.”, said Rich. “Believe it or not, after I found out that I was bi at the hospital, I kinda fell for our buddy Antisocial Headphones Kid, it was short lived though, since I always had a thing for Jakey and look at us now.”

Jeremy was surprised at this new obtained information. He felt jealousy starting to for in the pit of his stomach, but he tried to ignore it. Rich was with Jake anyway. What he didn't know was that Rich did that on purpose to see what his reactions found to be as.

“I had thoughts about Chloe and Christine,”, said Jake as a matter of fact. “believe it or not, I also had some feeling for Rich here, but I thought that he was straight so I ignored my feelings and went for girls instead.”

“Aww babe.”, said Rich, and they starting kissing.

“Well, I've had thoughts about you Jerry and Chloe even.”, said Brooke blushing. “It's perfectly normal to think about your friend like that, I mean, you've been together for so long that it would be impossible not to think about it.”

“Ooo my turn.”, said Christine holding her hand up. “I've thought about Jake, you Jere and more recently Jenna.”

That comment took Jenna by surprise as she started blushing furiously. She then said, “Really? Me too Star.”

“Will you look at that, I formed a relationship.”, said Rich wiping fake tears from his eyes.

“Would you like to go to my house after school?”, asked Jenna to Christine.

“I would love to, I'm so excited.”, said Christine smiling widely.

“We're getting of track,”, Rich said looking back at Jeremy. “Jere it's your turn.”

“I-i have thought about Christine, like I had previously said, Brooke and M-michael.”

“Knew it.”, said pretty much everyone at the table.

As things got quieter, Jeremy noticed that the doors opened, revealing Michael moving with the music and Chloe following close by. He thought hopefully that Rich wouldn't bring up that question, not the answers.

As Michael and Jeremy whispered to each other. The rest of the table divided to talk about their own things. Chloe still had in mind what she had discussed with Michael previously. She wasn't a scared little girl though, she was going to prove that a little crush, or rather big actually, was going to affect her.

“Hey Brooke?”, whispered Chloe.

“Yes Chloe? Is there something wrong? You look rather pale.”, Brooke said, putting her hand up to her cheek.

“I'm fine, I just wanted to ask you something personal.”

“Go ahead, you know that you don't have to keep anything from me. You can trust me.”

“Well, I was hoping that you could become my girlfriend? You can have all the Pinkberry in the world if you do.”, Chloe blushed as she looked at Brooke.

Brooke started blushing furiously, but didn't answer straight away. Chloe was regretting the words that she blurted out. She should have done something more romantic.

“I'm sorry, I should have known that you wouldn't feel the same way, can we at least keep being friends.”

Brooke started tearing up, Chloe was getting really nervous, thinking that she may have had fucked up, until Brooke took her shirt collar and pulled her to her lips. The confusion soon turned into passionate mutual kiss. Their friends clapped, Michael was ecstatic, feeling like a proud mother.

“Of course I want to be you girlfriend, I've been waiting for the longest of time for you to say that. I would date you with or without Pinkberry for a lifetime, even if it would be a nice perk.”, Brooke answered as she hugged Chloe.

“You've just made me the happiest girl in the world.”

As the commotion died down, they got back to their usual talks, just that the new formed couples were sitting noticeably closer. Soon enough the bell rang again and they continued with their day.

***

“Anything that we need before we go back to mi casa?”, Michael asked as he turned in his car.

“Not to my knowledge.”, Jeremy said as he opened the window, he enjoyed feeling the air on his face.

“Want to go back to my house of go on a cita?”

“Go on a what?”

Michael started blushing, cursing himself for blurting that out, he quickly replied, “To go a trip or go somewhere else.”

“That sounds fun, sure.”, he did a mental note on checking what Michael had actually said.

“Cool, where to milady?”

“What about Gamestop milady?”

“Woo girls night and new video games.”, yelled Michael, both laughing.

The ride was peaceful after that. Playing some tunes while they headed towards the mall. Jeremy would look out his window, he liked to look at people and try to guess what they were thinking. Michael and him made it a game, it could go from realistic to stupid shit in two seconds. Michael dropped Jeremy off at the entrance, he went towards the parking lot, trying to find a space. Jeremy went to a corner by the entrance, waiting for Michael to come back so that they could head to a few stores. Michael did mention that he wanted to get some new patches.

Michael saw that Jeremy was at the corner and planned a way to scare him. He quietly went the other way so that Jere couldn't see him. He put his hood up to slightly disguise himself and went behind him.

“Jeremiah…”, he whispered. A chill could be seeing going down Jeremy's back. He slowly turned around. “Boo!”

A shriek was heard, Jeremy trying really hard not to scream and alert other people. Michael fell on the floor laughing, standing up fast so that he could run from Jeremy that looked like he was about to murder him. Here tackled Michael onto the chairs that were stationed by the food court.

“I surrender, you win Jere-bear.”

“Lets go to the store Micah.”

“Ok ,Gamestop first or last?”

“We should leave it as the finale, you wanted some new patches anyway, let's go find some.”

“Cool let's go.”, Michael grabbed Jeremy's hand and led them towards Hot Topic.

He had seen another day while he was walking that they had stocked some new patches in the store. As they entered, Michael headed to his wants and Jeremy went to see some of the toys from video games that he likes. Michael ended picking one gaming related, he also got one conspiracy related and a slushie patch. Jeremy go a Space Invaders plushie for his room.

They did a small visit to Spencer's Gifts since Michael wanted to stock up on his vintage sodas. They even found some of that Ghostbusters soda thing that was discontinued in the 90s. At the end, they decided to go straight to Gamestop, they wanted to go home and play right away.

They entered the store and went through the selection of games, Michael picked a Just Dance that was in the clearance section. He had always wanted to try it, but since neither of them were much for exercise, they never got it. He could imagine Jeremy getting very competitive and dancing, he got it, plus it had a discount. Jeremy got a Zelda game that he had never played before.

They headed outside, walking to where Michael had parked his car. They got in and headed back to Michael's house. Jeremy was checking his phone, he kept getting texts from Christine reminding him to ask Michael about the party. Why won't people just forget about that? It was almost a month ago. He guessed that he could start the interrogation after whatever game that Michael had gotten was played. He hadn't seen it, Michael had kept it all to himself.

“It going to charge the batteries for the Wii remotes.”, Michael said as he entered the house, going towards the basement. “I would advise you to get a lot of drinks and change into a tank top.”

“Should I be worried?”, asked Jeremy. “It's an exercise thing isn't it.”

“Yep.”

“You are going to get very competitive, right?”

“I bet you are going to be worse, but yep.”

“You're on.”

“Called it.”

Jeremy got the drinks that Michael had asked him for. Walking carefully downstairs, he put down the drinks and went to get his clothes bag. He got a tank top that said ‘Old School’ with a controller. He changed fast, as he turned around,a full on blush spread to his face. Michael was facing the other way, he slowly took off his hoodie placing it on his bed. Jeremy tried looking away, but he was stuck in place. Soon his undershirt followed. He walked towards his closet, looking around for a tank top until finally deciding on a black one. Jere was finally able to look away taking a water bottle and sitting in the bean bag.

“Jere you're already red and drinking water and we haven't even started.”, said Michael laughing, oblivious to what had happened.

“Y-yeah, just trying to not dehydrate fast.”

“Sure buddy, I got a Just Dance, I've always wanted to play one, so I got a discount one.”

“Cool, let's do it.”

They moved the bean bags out of the way and they each grabbed their remote. Michael placed the game inside the Wii after connecting it to the TV. He got the fourth one, looking forward to doing the ‘Time Warp’.

“I think that we should do a type of challenge instead of normal gameplay.”, said Jeremy as Michael started going through the main menu, making dance cards for both of them.

“I'm listening.”

“What about the non-stop shuffle?”

“Sure, only if we get like one tap out and one skip song if we both agree.”

“Sounds fair to me.”

Dancing many songs in row turns out to be really exhausting when you're used to barely even moving as is. ‘Call Me Maybe' was an easy start, a good warm-up. ‘Rock Lobster’ was probably the best thing that Michael had ever seen and danced to, considering he got the lobster. They both agreed to skip ‘What Makes You Beautiful', they had never really liked that band anyway.

When ‘Oops I Did It Again’ began, Michael tapped out, saying that he wanted a break, it was just a fancy excuse to see Jeremy dance to Britney Spears. If he was gay before, Jeremy made him feel Gay to the 2, who was he kidding? To infinity. His eyes were glued to his friend's body. He tried looking away, he didn't want any accidents popping out.

The ‘Tribal Dance’ basically murdered them after being finished. Who gave a dance the right to be this fricking hard. The moment that they heard the wonderful tune of memes, however, had then ecstatic. ‘Never Gonna Give You Up' is a classic, you can fight either of them with that. They laughed, singing along, when he dancer launched into the floor, they fell flat on the bean bags behind them.

Jeremy tapped out when ‘Run The Show’ started, just by looking at the ladies he could tell that it was going to be a hard one. He made the right choice anyway because seeing Michael move his hips was rewarding enough. The sweat rolled of his body as he did the body rolls. Michael yelled at him saying g that this would be way more fun if there was two players. Since when did Michael have such nice hips, no guy should be this blessed when it comes to body shape.

They were so tired that they decided to give up, they had being neck to neck for ever since the challenge began. They decided to do two more dances, chosen by them to see who would be crown winner of the game. Michael obviously went for ‘Time Warp’, he bought it for this reason and he is going to do it. It was fun dancing along with the characters on the screen. Michael went for the doll or the whatever the girl was with the red dress, saying that it was way better to dance with a partner that alone, Jeremy was the dude next to her with the blue suit. Even if they had seen the movie, they didn't remember the names of the characters they were trying to represent.

Michael won by the way, he wanted to dance it for a reason, knowing that he was good at it. If he won the song that Jeremy would choose, we would be the winner of the game. Jeremy wasn't fond of losing, but he did want to try something before finishing this.

Jeremy chose ‘The Time of My Life', insisting that it was only because he wanted a more relaxing song to end it. Michael agreed, choosing the guy he told Jeremy that he could be the girl, he had seen the ending of the song, he wanted to surprise Jere by raising him in the air. Jeremy gave Michael a stink eye, but agrees anyway. He would get to dance with Michael a romantic song and he would get to be in his arms, at least for a few parts, sign him the fuck up.

They blushed incredibly hard, ignoring each others’ faces and looking only at the screen. Everything was fine and dandy until the guy on the screen grabbed the girl from the waist and lowered her. It was rather quick, but they got lost in each others’ eyes seeming to he communicating without saying anything. They separated quickly, going back to the dance, ignoring what happened. When the girl was about to jump into the dude's arms, Michael called Jeremy to Jump. Jeremy instead decided to tackle him into the bean bags.

They both laughed, holding each other all sweaty. When they finished laughing, they noticed that they were in quite a compromising position, moving apart quickly again.

“Hey Jere? I'm going to take a bath, you can out in a movie or something.”, Michael rushed away, blushing.

“Sure, take your time.”, Jeremy, also blushing, replied. The went through the movie selection after turning off the TV, the score forgotten from the teen's mind. ‘Did he feel that too, or was it just my imagination.’ Jeremy didn't know that Michael was asking himself the same question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Cita: date
> 
> House: casa


	11. Finally Some Action

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter has a some suggestive parts, nothing too explicit though.

Once Michael got out, Jeremy got in, Michael went upstairs to get some food for himself and Jere. Once they were both ready with their pjs, they started eating, watching a random comedy that they found. As time went by, the food disappeared and the movie got more boring. While thinking, Jeremy remembered that he was supposed to ask Michael about the whole situation with the party.

“Hey Micah?” “Hey Jere?”, they said at the same time.

“Sorry you first.”, said Jeremy, his interrogation could wait.

“I was wondering if you would like to eat some of the pot brownies or drink some interesting stuff that I got the other day. You know, try to see if what they say it true about it.”

Jeremy agreed, but decided to be a bit sneaky about it. He knew that high Michael was otherworldly, but drunk Michael was the type to tell the truth about anything and everything, sober Michael was more careful with his thoughts. If he could get Michael gone before him, he could get the details he wanted and he would be able to stop people from bothering him. Michael got to it, not wasting any time. Jeremy decided to stick the interesting stuff. It was a mixture of drinks, Michael went all the way, getting wasted fast, Jeremy just took some sips.

It was quite obvious to see when the effect took place. Jeremy had offered the rest of his drink to Michael as he slowly watched how it affected him. He tended to get all giggly when intoxicated and just walked around. Jeremy was trying to decipher what would be the best way to go about this.

“Hey Micah? Could you sit down for a moment?”

“W-why Jer-bear? I'm just fine right here.”

“Please, think of it as a game.”

“Ooo, I like games.”

“I know you do, come on.”

“Ok.”, Michael walked back towards his friend sitting in his lap, blush starting to form on Jeremy's face.

“W-why are you in my l-lap?”

“You said sit down, I did. Plus, you are cuddly.”

“Thanks I guess. Let's do some sort of role-playing kind of thing.”

“Kinky.”

“Not that type of role-playing dummy.”

“Sure, what we gonna do?”

“I'll be a detective and you the one with the information. I'll ask you questions and you'll answer as truthful as possible.”

“And if I don't know the answers?”

“You say you don't know. If you answer truthfully, I'll buy you a slushie next time we go to 7-11. Deal?”

“Deal.”, they shook on it. “Where do I go though? For the scene.”

“You should go to the bean bag in front of me.”

“Ok… I'll miss your lap though.”

“Yeah yeah. Let's start.”

“Hello Mr. Detective, you wanted to see me?”, Michael said with an innocent face, how can he be this cute?

“Yes Mr. Mell.”, Jeremy was thinking if he should just go straight to party questions or ask some more personal stuff. “Do you remember the Halloween party from a while ago?”

“Yes, my friend Jeremy went, but I didn't want to go.”

“I see, why didn't you want to go?”

“I'll tell you a secret officer, don't tell Jeremy.”, said Michael as he called Jeremy to come closer, it seemed that Michael had forgotten that he wasn't really a detective. “I told him that I had an offer for a Gamecube, which I did, but not for that day.”

“And why did you lie to him?”

“I didn't want to bother him. I was scared that I would have a breakdown like last time. I know that it's stupid, that he wouldn't do that again, but I can still hear him, saying what he said that night. I'm slowly getting better though. He is my best friend, I love him.”, Michael was about to start crying, so was Jeremy.

How was he so blind. He knew that Michael had forgiven him, but he was still hurting. It should have been obvious that he couldn't get better so fast. He was such an asshole.

“What if we move to something else?”

“Sure detective, why more do you need?”

“Did you go to the party after Jeremy went?”

“Well, in the beginning I was planning to go. I even got a mask and everything.”

“Could you give it to me?”

Michael nodded as he went to a drawer, digging deep into it, he retrieved the item and handed it to Jeremy. It was a total steampunk-vintage mask, perfect for Michael, Jeremy felt like he had seen it before. He just couldn't place it.

“After a while of debating with myself,”, said Michael as he sat back down. “I decided to go to the party. I was going to enjoy myself just hanging out with you.”

Now it was getting interesting, so he did go to the party. Why hadn't Jeremy seen him then?

“That's super nice of you, but you could have told Jeremy what was bothering you.”

“I'll tell him later, so as I was saying. I arrived and started looking for him, I found our other friends doing chaos, as usual, but no Jeremy. I bumped into random people, a drunk girl tried to get me.”

That sounded dangerously close to the stranger and Nicole rejection.

“Was it Nicole by any chance?”

“I think so, I went past her though, I kept walking until I heard some sounds coming from the restroom. And I was like, that sounds like my Jeremy.”

Hearing Michael say my Jeremy made him blush like hell. It sounded really nice. So what more did he have to prove to himself that Michael and the stranger where one in the same.

“It was funny actually,”, Michael interrupted his thoughts. “Jeremy thought that I was a stranger, I kept telling him that I was Michael, but nooo.”

Was Jeremy really dumb enough to not recognize his best friend in a mask?

“Oh and what did Jeremy do next?”

“He started acting very funny, hence being drunk.”, Michael giggled. “He started questioning me, so I decided to just go along with it. He started complimenting me, since I have a crush on him, it was hard

“YOU HAVE A WHAT.”

“Don't scream detective, I've had a crush on my best friend for a while now, few years. I should just give up though.”

“No, don't, please, give him more time.”

“Maybe. Anyways, he said that I had nice eyes, I didn't have my glasses on, causing him to get confused in the beginning, not believing me. He said that is had a nice voice too.”

Drunk Jeremy is way more confident with his thoughts, he noted. ‘Michael must-have been so uncomfortable if he had contacts on.’, thought Jeremy.

“I placed him in my car and took him home,i was going to tell him the truth, I was slightly scared because he could get angry. Instead, he started gaining a crush on the ‘stranger', I just knew that I couldn't tell him.”

“You should rest Michael, you did good.”, Jeremy needed a second to organize all the thoughts that were going around his head.

“Ok detective, I'm very tired, I'm going to bed.”, Michael walked up to his bed and just fell flat on his bed.

Jeremy grabbed the mask, slowly toying with it as he processed what had just occurred. He placed it back where Michael had gotten it from. Jeremy stood up and left the room, he wanted some space to process everything that had happened, not like Michael was going to be bothering him anytime soon. He took note to bring Michael some painkillers and water for the next morning. He paced around the house, wondering to himself.

First things first, he was either very blind, since everyone pretty much begged him to ask Michael about this or something happened to cause all of his friends to find out. He truly needed to have a heart to heart with Christine, Michael too. Secondly, he really needed to up his Michael reading skills. Michael has always been able to read him like an open book, he really needs to be there more for Michael, talk things through.

Third and most importantly, WHAT IN THE ABSOLUTE FUCK, Michael actually has a crush on him. Now that he knows that Michael and the stranger are one in the same, he can let all the confusing stuff leave his brain, at least, the part that was related to that problem.

After pacing a while longer, reaching back to where Michael was laying, Jeremy took a sit. He started tracing Michael's features, studying him. Michael would try to get closer to his touch, which he found way to cute for this life. How couldn't he have seen it before? The stranger had the same features that Jeremy lived from Michael, being first in line to see them grow into what they are now. 13 years of being together does that to you. Before falling asleep though, he got the stuff for Michael in the morning, knowing fully well that he would be up before him.

He put all the stuff next to the bed and proceeded to take his shirt and pants off. After that, he got into bed, just as he placed the covers over himself, Michael cringed to him like a bear. He put his arms around him too and cuddled, hopefully, if all went good, he would be able to do this almost everyday for the rest of his life. He passed out, imagining his life if he ever got married with his best friend.

***

Jeremy woke up the next day to a cold bed and Michael puking in the restroom, a normal day for when this type of stuff happens. It looked like it was going to be a skip school kind of day though. Michael did get way too wasted for his own good.

“Hey Micah are you ok?”, Jeremy asked as he out his shirt over himself and walked towards the restroom, the water that he had gotten yesterday in hand.  
“Does it sound like I'm ok Jere?”, Michael said as he took the water.

“No need to be so rude.”

“I'm sorry, let me try this. My fair Jeremiah, love of my life, I feel like I'm slowly disintegrating hence the liquids that I consumed without care yesterday.”

“That's an… improvement I suppose.”, said Jeremy trying to hide his blush.

“I feel like I died and resurrected in the worst possible way, I can't remember a thing.”, Michael started trying to really think about what happened the night before. Suddenly, he started sweating, remembering that being drunk is like a honesty serum to him. Could he have spilled something?

“Well, you did drink unhealthy amounts of alcohol.”

“Yeah, did I… do something embarrassing last night?”

Jeremy flashed a smug like smile as he said, “Maybe.”

That face had Michael worried, giving a nervous chuckle, Michael excused Jeremy out of the bathroom, saying that he needed to take a bath. Jeremy agreed and went back into the room. Out of nowhere, he got this confidence to do something. It was practically confirmed that Michael felt something towards him. He could probably use some of the information that he had to corner Michael into spilling stuff while sober. Maybe it could also lead to something else, but that was probably better left for later.

He proceeded to grab some snacks for breakfast, also sending a quick text to his friends explaining that they weren't going to go to school today because kid what had happened yesterday. He grabbed some pretzels and chips, good enough for them. He put them down and now he waited. Michael got out, with some fresh clothes and sat next to Jeremy, eating their super healthy and good breakfast.

“Hey Micah, could you move a little.”

“Sure.”

Jeremy started to take off his shirt, he was a bit self conscious, but he knew that it would help with his plan. He thought about what Michael did that made him blush, he supposed that he could provoke that same reaction. He watched secretly at how Michael blushed, but tried to hide it. Jeremy got closer to Michael and whispered.

“Hey Michael, I discovered some interesting stuff while you were the opposite of sober.”

“You did?”, asked Michael as he started to back up slowly.

“Yes actually, something that I would like to confirm.”, Jeremy got even closer, starting to climb up to his lap. He was enjoying this revenge thing since drunk Michael kinda did the same thing to him.

Michael gulped loudly as he grabbed Jeremy to steady himself., “I think I can do that.”

“So let's play detective shall we.”

Now that sentence ringed a bell on Michael's head, he just wasn't sure why. As he was starting to enjoy the feeling of being so close to Jeremy, he got of him and started walking. The slight pout on Michael's face didn't go unnoticed. This whole encounter left both of them in a state of let's kiss, hug and let's go down to business. Considering that Michael want sure what was going on through his friends mind, he pushed those thoughts away, so did Jeremy, but mostly because he was a man with a plan.

“I found something interesting thanks to you yesterday.”, Jeremy was getting dangerously close to where Michael had stored the mask that fateful day. Michael guessed that no one heard his prayer as he saw Jeremy take out the mask.

“Looks like you found something there Jere.”

“Yes I did, a masquerade mask, very you by the way.”

“Thanks.”, Michael muttered as Jeremy took a seat back on his lap.

“The question is though, why would you have a mask?”

“I-I found it and liked its style?”, it sounded more like a question than an answer.

“I think that you're lying Micah, we're supposed to tell each other everything. Either that, or I'll forced you to tell me.”

Michael didn't know where this dominance was coming from, but he was trying his best for it not to go to his pants.

“I was originally going to go to the dance, but decided against it.”, that seemed like S reasonable answer in Michael's opinion.

“I guess that makes sense.”, said Jeremy as he placed the mask to the side and took Michael's face in his hands. “Except for one thing.”

Michael hoped that Jeremy couldn't feel the heat on his cheeks. “What would that be?”

“Having the mask wasn't the only thing that drunk Michael decided to tell me.”

“And… what did that boy tell you?”

“You did go to the party, got flirted by a few people.”

“Fine yes, I did go but just to pick you up, you almost sound a bit jealous there Jere.”

Jeremy rocked his hips a bit, “Only to pick me up?”, He ignored the jealous comment.

“Y-yes?”, wow, really convincing Michael.

“Ok.”, Jeremy got off of Michael. He was getting somewhere.

“So we're done here?”, Michael said as he tried to get up.

“Nope.”, Jeremy pushed him back. “There's something else.”

“Ok.”

“The stranger, quite weird now that I think about it.”

Michael was getting mixed signals, was this a weird way of getting mad? He was going to come out eventually, looks like drunk Michael beat him to it.

“What's weird?”

“Something that my friends pointed out, but I was too confused to see for myself.”

“Which was?”

“Pretty much everyone was able to connect some stuff before I did. They helped me see that I had a type when it came to guys.”

“That's great dude, exploring your bisexuality.”

“In a way I suppose. I should come clean about something first though. I was crushing on this guy, when the stranger entered my life, he threw me on a loop.”

“And who was it?”

“Aren't you getting nosey? We'll get to that.”, Jeremy said as he booped his nose. “ As I was saying, I have a type. Maybe you can relate.”

“I guess, spit it out.”

“Well, turns out, both my crush and the stranger shared beautiful and home brown eyes,”, said Jeremy as he looked deep into Michael's eyes. “they had this relaxing voice that I could hear for days.”, Jeremy started leaving light touches on Michael's neck.

“R-really? What else?”

“Let me see...yes, also, their skin was a very rich color, warm to touch,”, Jeremy proceeded to trace Michael's skin that was free at the moment. “and most importantly, their personality.”

Michael was falling apart as Jeremy whispered that last part into his ear. He noticed when Jeremy started attacking his neck with kisses. Something in Michael broke loose. He pushed Jeremy and pinned him against the bed.

“It seems like you may have found out stuff about yourself more than the stranger, not that I particularly care.”, Michael started mapping Jeremy's slight abs that he had gained thanks to the SQUIP. “Because you seem to imply something that I've been waiting to hear for a long time.”

“R-really?”, Jeremy stuttered as he felt the heat rise from his body.

“Where did all that cute confidence go Jeremiah?” Michael said as he whispered in his ear.

“You took it it seems.”, Jeremy laughed very nervously.

“It may seem like it I suppose, back to topic at hand though, I know that you're one horny teen so we won't keep going with this.”

“Wait what, why?”, Jeremy asked as Michael took a seat in front of him.

“Because we need to talk it out before doing anything that may cause regret, and second, I've got a headache thanks to the hangover too, I doubt that anything is attractive to you right now anyway.”

“That make a lot of sense, yeah ok. And, you're always attractive, I've seen you in worse days buddy.”

“Don't buddy me after all that.”, There was a pause, comfortable silence. “So I should explain myself I guess, well, sober this time.”

“Ok.”


	12. The End

After the heart to heart that they had had, they were hugging each other, it always seemed to comfort both of them.

“It was nice to take that out of my chest.”, Michael said as he cuddled into Jeremy's neck.

“Or out of the closet.”, Jeremy said snickering a little.

“You ruined it Heere, you ruined the moment. I hope you're proud of what you've done.”, Michael separated from Jeremy with a fake look of disgust in his face.

“That's why you love me though.”, Jeremy extended his hands back to grab Michael.

“Yes, and for many more reasons, that I hope I will be able to share with you at some point in our lives.”, Michael smiled brightly and Jeremy, he returned it.

“We have the rest of our lives to share, don't worry about it.”, Jeremy teased.

“Now that all of that is out of our chests, like previously mentioned. I want to ask you something.”

“Go ahead.”

“Are you not mad that I kept this from you?”

“I could never be mad at you for something so wholesome from your part. It's more my fault since i was too blind to not see it. It's my job as friend to be there for you, hopefully I will be able to complete that role in the future.”

“You already do Jere, you're perfect, even if you are very oblivious.”

“I am, aren't I?”

“Yes, but I did also do a great job at hiding my feelings, for all you know I could actually be a secret agent trying to woo you to kidnap you.”

“You should tone down the movies Micah.”

“At least I'm not addicted like my mami and fanfictions.”

“Don't shame your mother, we both bow that we have read our fair share of fics.”

“Not my fault that the ‘show we must not name' ended so wrong, fans know where it's at.”

“Hey Micah?”, Jeremy looked towards Michael, a question in his eyes.

“Yeah Jere?”, Michael looked back at him with wonder.

“Since we got everything out and stuff, would you do me the honor of becoming my boyfriend?”

“Of course my lady. I thought that you would never ask.”

***

“Has any of you guys heard from the boys riends?”, asked Brooke to her friends as they exited school.

Chloe hugged her as they walked, then she answered, “Nope, haven't even seen them today.”

“It's weird, they tend to send a text when they decide to skip school.”, Jake added.

“They having been active in social media either.”, stated Jenna as she checked her phone.

“I bet they finally got some action.”, Rich said wiggling his eyebrows.

The group laughed, but then Christine added, “What if they did though? He did tell me he was going to confront Michael.”

The group seemed to all think the same thing as they headed all towards where the boys were located. They finally reached the place and rang the normal. Christine seemed to be about to explode in giddiness. Soon enough, the boys opened the door, get both seem fresh and clean, no messy anything.

“Hey guys, what's up?”, asked Michael as he let them in.

“We were worried about you guys. You skipped you know.”, Brooke said as she hugged them hello.

“Yeah, Michael had a bit of a drunk game with himself. Not great for early mornings.”, Jeremy said chuckling.

Everyone seated themselves in the couch. Some had disappeared faces, some were trying to hide it. Jeremy and Michael were just laughing internally, Here had told everything that had happened to Michael and they decided to tell everyone in a fun way.

“So guys, we have an announcement to make.”, yelled Michael as he stood up, grabbing Jeremy's hand. Everyone's eyes lighted up, hoping for their friends.

“Yeah, Michael helped me get a boyfriend.”, Jeremy said, trying not to laugh. There was shock written in everyone's faces.

“Yep, it was really easy, just some communication.”, Michael said as he hugged Jeremy.

“But...but.”, Christine had a look of astonishment, as Jenna comforted her.

“That's great Jeremy.”, Chloe said trying to sound sincere.

“Yeah man.”, Jake said as he scratched his neck.

“So, who's the lucky man?”, Rich said trying to be funny.

Jeremy and Michael looked at each other and smirked. They kissed hard in front of their friends. Rich whistled and Christine screeched.

“About time.”, said Chloe as she smiled.

Everyone congratulated the boys and soon exited the house.

***

“Boys we're home.”, Mr. Heere said as he opened the door for the Mells to enter.

“Yes, we all arrived together, we decided it would be nice to have a, well, nice dinner together.”, said Tala.

“Yep, and I brought pizza.”, yelled Vale.

“Moms!”, Michael yelled as he ran towards the door and hugged each one of them.

“You seem excited.”, said Tala.

“Hey dad.”, said Jeremy as he hugged his dad, helping him with his bags.

“Hey sport. Did you take good care of the house?”, Mr. Heere asked.

“Yes, we both did.”, Jeremy replied as he pointed at Michael.

“Yep, both houses by the way.”, Michael added back.

“That's great to hear Mahal.”, Tala said as she entered with the drinks.

“Can someone help me do the table? If not I'm eating the pizza por mi sola.”, Vale said as she walked inside.

“We'll help.”, both boys replied as they headed towards the table.

“Just to add,”, Jeremy said as he was about to join Michael. “we're dating now.”

“YESSS.”, Valle said as she hugged both of them after placing the pizza down.

“Who asked for it?”, Mr. Heere asked as he took out his wallet, the mothers doing the same.

“Uh… Jeremy did.”, said Michael as he blushed.

“Pay up Heere.”, Tala and Vale said as they stretched their hand.

“Fine.”, Mr. Heere handed them some bills.

“What was the bet?”, asked Jeremy as he sat down in the table, the others joining him.

“Who was going to ask to be boyfriends.”, Tala said, grabbing a piece of pizza.

“Oh.”, Jeremy replied.

Everyone laughed as they ate their pizza, smiling and telling each other stories about what has happened lately. Soon, the Mells said their goodbyes and headed home, Michael kissing Jeremy goodbye. All the adults awed at the actions.

***

*GAYMELL wants to video chat*

“Hey Jere.”, Michael said as he sat in his bed.

“Hey Micah, can't get enough of me?”, Jeremy teased.

“Nope, we are meant to be attached to the hip.”

“Yeah you're right.”

“I was wondering if you would like to go on a date with me to the movies, a bit overdone, but fun nonetheless.”

“I would love to Micah, can't wait for it.”

“I love you a lot you know. You made me the happiest boy alive.”

Jeremy smiled as he answered back, “I love you too, you've always have made my life happy, calling you boyfriend is even better I must admit.”

“It sounds so nice for you to say that.”, Michael laughed. “But, shouldn't it be riends?”

“I'm your boyf you my riend, we complete each other.”

“Always have Jere.”

“Is it bad that all I want to do is kiss you right now.”

“Nope, I've been wanting to kiss you for a long time too.”

“I have an idea, what if we both get out of the house, go to the park and make out?”

“That sounds like a great plan, someone is becoming a bit of a rebel it seems.”

“We tend to escape for slushies, this is better.”, Jeremy joked as he stood up to find his cardigan.

“I don't know, slushies are pretty great, but yeah, my boyfriend is way better than them.”, Michele put on his hoodie.

“I need you, c'mon, let's go.”

“Ok, but no funny business, is your horny ass gets any ideas, I'm leaving.”

“I thought you liked me.”, Jeremy pouted.

“I do, but some things I prefer to keep between us in a not public place.”

“Fine, we'll do something interesting another day.”

“Yeah, we will.”, Michael smirked as he continued. “Let's go, I'm hanging up and before this becomes a competition, I love you more.”

Michael hanged up right as he said that, Jeremy just laughed as he looked outside his window at the stars. He was just that lucky to be able to call Michael his boyfriend. He smiled, giggling to himself as he started to exit his house. This was just the start of a great adventure, hopefully rated t, he could handle some not child fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Mahal: dear 
> 
> Por mi sola: by myself
> 
> Finally done with this project, a total of 87 pages. Thanks for reading. I had a lot of fun writing this.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
